'^HOUR 



GEIHSEMANE 

MEDlTAriONS-ON^HE 

ANIMA^CHRISTI 



•f- FRANCIS-P 
DONNELLY^ S-J 




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Gopyrigliffl?. 



COFnUCHT DEPOSm 



THE HOLY HOUR IN 
GETHSEMANE 



THE HOLY HOUR 
IN GETHSEMANE 

Meditations on the Anima Christi 
FRANCIS P.' DONNELLY, S.J. 

AUTHOR OF "watching AN HOUR," " MUSTARD SEED," 
"chaff and wheat," ETC. 



NEW YORK 
P. J. KENEDY & SONS 

1917 



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\$^ 



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COPYRIGHT, 1917 
BY P. J. KENEDY & SONS 



JUL 31 ISi8 



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Jmprimi potejst : 

ANTONIUS MAAS, S.J., 
PraepositiLs Prov, Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis 

i^i^il objstat: 

JOANNES J. WYNNE, S.J., 

Censor Deputatus 

Imprimatur : 

►i^ JOANNES CARDINALIS FARLEY, 

Archiepiscopus Neo-Eboracensis 

NeoEboraci, 
Die 17 Feb,, igiy 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Note to the Reader ix 

The Anima Christi 1 

The Holy Hour 9 

Text of Anima Christi 18 

Summary of Meditations 21 

Order of Time for the Holy Hour 25 

An Hour for Holiness 61 

An Hour for Perfection and Strength. 77 

An Hour for Perseverance 129 

Litanies, Prayers, and Hymns 183 

Anima Christi in Hymns 204 



[vii] 



NOTE TO THE READER 



I 



N ''Watching an Hour/' a book, which 
furnishes meditations and prayers for the 
devotion of the Holy Hour, the thoughts 
were for the most part centered upon 
the Blessed Sacrament. In the present 
work, containing thoughts and prayers 
for the same devotion, the Passion is kept 
prominent throughout. The Holy Hour 
began with being a commemoration of 
Christ's Agony in the Garden and then, 
as the devotion was always practised be- 
fore the Blessed Sacrament, thoughts and 
practices became Eucharistic. Finally 
the League of the Sacred Heart adopted 
and spread the devotion and in this way 
thoughts and prayers concerning our 
Lord's Sacred Heart became prominent 
in it. All three ways of practising the 
devotion have been indulgenced by the 

[ix] 



NOTE TO THE READER 

Church as will he seen in the short sketch 
given hereafter. 

In reality what the devotion aims at is 
to stir up within the faithful compassion 
with Christ, hatred of sin, a spirit of 
reparation and kindred feelings and re- 
solves. The devout faithful will reach 
this holy end by any of the ways just 
mentioned or even by others. The suffer- 
ing of Jesus in the Passion, His wonder- 
ful life in the Tabernacle, His ardent 
love which is symbolized and adored in 
His Sacred Heart, will no doubt all prove 
to be teeming sources of ardent repentance 
and sympathetic reparation. 

The present book, it is hoped, may 
help to spread further this consoling 
devotion which appeals so touchingly to 
the faithful in these days when the Sacra- 
ment of the Altar is coming to occupy so 
prominent a place in Catholic life. To 
facilitate remembrance in meditations and 
to encourage directors to speak rather 
than to read the thoughts, the divisions in 
the meditations and the headings have been 
[x] 



NOTE TO THE READER 

made far more numerous than usual. 
Prayers are given in litany form and 
litanies and other prayers are added in 
an appendix to encou/rage the faithful to 
take an active part in the devotion, a 
feature to be warmly encouraged and 
extended. 

The " Anima ChristV^ was chosen as 
a text by request and it lent itself to the 
purpose so admirably that it is not 
strange so wonderful a prayer should 
have been found on the lips of Catholics^ 
warming their hearts and uplifting their 
souls in earnest devotion for six centuries 
or more. 

F. P. D., S.J. 



St. Francis Xavier's Day, 
December 3, 1916 



Holy Cross College 
Worcester, Mass. 



[xi] 



THE ANIMA CHRISTI 



THE ANIMA CHRISTI 

HE Anima Christi has often been 
called the prayer of St. Ignatius, but 
it is a well established fact that it is 
not his and was never claimed by him. 
He did, however, make it popular or 
rather continued and spread the popu- 
larity of the prayer by means of the 
Spiritual Exercises. The Anima Christi 
is a favorite vocal prayer in the Exer- 
cises of St. Ignatius, receiving the 
prominence of being associated with 
the Our Father and Hail Mary. In 
the Exercises the Our Father is the 
vocal prayer which concludes the collo- 
quy with God, the Father; the Anima 
Christi, the colloquy with Christ, Our 
Lord; and the Hail Mary, the colloquy 
with Our Blessed Lady. As the triple 
colloquy is used with the chief medita- 
tions of St. Ignatius, it was natural 

[3] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

that the Anima Christi should be made 
prominent and so come to occupy the 
high place it does in the devotional 
prayers of priests, religious, and people. 
The Spiritual Exercises were first 
published in 1548, altho composed 
before that date, but the Anima Christi 
is found in actual use two centuries 
earlier. The first reference to the 
prayer, so far found, occurs in a spiri- 
tual diary written in 1344 by Marga- 
ret Ebner, a celebrated mystic, living 
in a convent near Dillingen. About 
twenty years afterwards, in 1364, in 
the city of Seville, Spain, the Anima 
Christi was inscribed about the door- 
way of the royal palace known as the 
Alcazar. The inscription had been 
hidden for a very long time under 
thick coats of whitewash and was 
fully removed and identified in 1880. 
To have a prayer occupy so prominent 
a position in the south of Spain and to 
be used so familiarly in Dillingen in 
Bavaria argues to a wide popularity 

[4] 



THE ANIMA CHRISTI 

and to a still earlier use. The actual 
words of Margaret Ebner, as given by 
Herbert Thurston, S.J. {Month, May, 
1915), are most interesting and show 
that the prayer was well known. ''I 
had read,'' says the spiritual diary, 
"how long our Saviour was a denizen 
on earth, that is to say, twelve thou- 
sand four hundred and ten days, and 
then an interior desire possessed me 
to make compensation for myself and 
for those I loved, for the days that I 
had wasted in living out of this truth, 
by repeating so many times the Pater 
Noster for each day of His Earthly 
Life. And so I prayed, reciting at each 
fifty (Pater Nosters) the prayer Anima 
Christi sanctifica me, and besought that 
from His holy sufferings, I might gain 
strength to resist all evil that might 
befall me in thought, word or deed.'' 
Here we are six centuries later using 
the same prayer for the same purpose! 
A striking instance of the vital con- 
tinuity of the Catholic Church! 

[5] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

In England, in the year 1382, we 
find another early and interesting refer- 
ence to the Anima Christie proving its 
popularity. The story is told (Medice- 
vol Byways, by L. F. Salzmann, p. 122) 
that a certain Roger paid to another 
Roger, Clerk of Wandsworth, for a 
cure for his sick wife, Joan. As the 
wife got no better, the husband had 
the clerk arrested for fraud. The 
clerk said that he had given a good 
charm for fever, asserting that Anima 
Christi sandifica me and other pious 
expressions were inscribed on the parch- 
ment which the woman, according to 
his directions, was wearing about her 
neck. When the cloth of gold covering 
which Roger had sewed about the 
parchment was opened, it was found 
that nothing at all was written on the 
leaf. Roger was proved to be illiterate 
and ignorant of physic and was con- 
demned by the court to the ignomini- 
ous and painful punishment of being 
paraded through the city with trum- 

[6] 



THE ANIMA CHRISTI 

pets and fifes and with himself on a 
horse without a saddle. The artist for 
Professor Salzmann sketches for us the 
well deserved punishment of Roger, as 
he imagines it to have taken place 
(I. c, p. 123). This use of the Anima 
Christi is not as inspiring as the in- 
scription in Spain or the prayers in 
Dillingen, but it certainly shows that 
the Anima Christi was very well known 
to the people, when it could be quoted 
in court by an illiterate quack who 
was posing as a doctor and clerk. 

The authorship of the Anima Christi 
has been attributed to Blessed Ber- 
nardino da Feltre (1439-1494) and to 
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). 
The former is clearly not the author, 
and for the latter no proof has been 
adduced. The common opinion is that 
Pope John XXII (1244-1334) is the 
author. Many very early books of 
devotion state that he granted indul- 
gences for the prayer. Father Thurs- 
ton, in the article already quoted and 

[7] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

very generously used in this brief 
sketch, does not consider the evidence 
sufficient to make certain the author- 
ship of Pope John XXII, while admit- 
ting that the prayer is as old as the 
time of his pontificate, if not older. 

INDULGENCES 

In January, 1854, Pope Pius IX 
revoked all previous indulgences at- 
tached to the Anima Christi and granted 
to all the faithful: 

An indulgence of 300 days every 
time that, with at least contrite heart 
and devotion, they shall say it. 

An indulgence of seven years once 
a day to priests who shall say it after 
Mass, and to the faithful who shall 
say it after communion. 

A plenary indulgence once a month 
on the usual conditions to all who say 
the prayer daily for a month. 



[8] 



THE HOLY HOUR 



I 



THE HOLY HOUR 



T is sometimes asked whether the 
Holy Hour ought to be devoted ex- 
clusively to considerations of the Pas- 
sion, as is done in the Holy Hours here 
given. The truth is that the Church 
has approved and blessed with her 
indulgences three different practices of 
the Holy Hour. In Watching an Hour^ 
the present writer's other book on the 
Holy Hour, the thoughts center upon 
the Blessed Sacrament for the most 
part. The following account of the 
nature of the Holy Hour and its indul- 
gences is taken from Watching an Hour. 

There are three practices of the 
Holy Hour, specially authorized and 
indulgenced by the Church. The first 
is wholly Eucharistic and is made in 
public or private for one hour on Holy 
Thursday, Corpus Christi, and any 
Thursday of the year in commemora- 

[11] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

tion of the institution of the Blessed 
Sacrament. Any pious exercise dur- 
ing the hour (meditation, vocal prayers, 
etc.) suffices for the indulgences. The 
indulgences are: 1. Plenary for Holy 
Thursday with Confession and Com- 
munion on the day or during the 
week following; 2. Plenary for Corpus 
Christi on the same conditions; 3. 
Three Hundred Days every Thursday 
of the year. (Beringer, Les Indul- 
gences. French authorized translation, 
1905, Vol. I, 371.) Many associations 
of the Church practice such a Holy 
Hour in honor of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment. Among them may be men- 
tioned the Archconfraternity of the 
Most Blessed Sacrament (Beringer, II, 
128), the Archconfraternity of Per- 
petual Adoration {ibid. 130, 133), the 
Association of Priest Adorers {ibid. 
452), the Priests' Eucharistic League. 
The Archconfraternity of the Eucha- 
ristic Heart of Jesus {ibid. 480) pre- 
scribes half an hour weekly. All of 

[12] 



THE HOLY HOUR 

these devotions are indulgenced for 
the members of such societies if the 
conditions required in each case are 
compHed with. 

The second kind of Holy Hour was 
instituted in accordance with a revela- 
tion related by Blessed Margaret Mary. 
It consists of an hour of prayer in 
union with the Agony of our Lord in 
the Garden, in order to appease the 
anger of God and to win graces for 
sinners. This hour is made by mem- 
bers of the Archconfraternity of the 
Holy Hour, an organization founded 
by Father Debrosse, S.J., at Paray- 
Le-Monial. It has been approved of 
and extended by different popes, and 
in 1911 the Archconfraternity at 
Paray-Le-Monial was empowered to 
aggregate confraternities anywhere in 
the world. In order to gain the indul- 
gences members must have their names 
inscribed on an official register. In 
the case of all religious communities, 
it is sufficient to have the community 

[13] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

itself inscribed once for all. To gain 
the plenary indulgence granted on 
each occasion, with the usual condi- 
tions, the members must pray for any 
hour from Thursday afternoon to Fri- 
day morning in union with Jesus in 
agony, for the purpose of appeasing 
God's wrath against sin and in repa- 
ration for sinners. This Holy Hour 
is concerned with the Passion rather 
than with the Blessed Sacrament. 
(Beringer, H, 144.) 

The third Holy Hour is an extension 
of this second one. First every individ- 
ual member of the Apostleship of 
Prayer may gain the plenary indul- 
gence granted to the members of the 
Confraternity of the Holy Hour without 
being registered in that Confrater- 
nity provided he fulfills the conditions, 
namely an hour of meditation or vocal 
prayer on the Passion at the time 
designated, with Confession and Com- 
munion. Secondly, this privilege was 
further extended in 1875 by Leo XIII, 
[14] 



THE HOLY HOUR 

and members of the Apostleship, who 
practice the Hour in common, may 
now make it on any day or hour 
once in a week. (Beringer, II, 202.) 
In this rescript occur the following 
words: "'It has been reported to us 
that many of the Associates of the 
said Apostleship, called together by 
the directors according to the statutes 
of the League, are wont to assemble 
on certain hours and days in churches 
or chapels to perform in honor of 
the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus or of 
the August Sacrament of the Altar, the 
pious exercises of adoration and repara- 
tion belonging to the devotion of the 
Holy Hour." The words here cited 
do not restrict the prayers and medita- 
tions to the Passion alone, but include 
exercises in honor of the Sacred Heart 
and the Blessed Sacrament. Such 
would seem to be the general custom 
now. The Holy Hour, which was origi- 
nally concerned with the Agony in 
the Garden, has grown to comprehend 

[15] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

all the Passion, the Sacred Heart, and 
the Holy Eucharist. In practice the 
faithful should be recommended to 
entertain thoughts of sympathy with 
Christ suffering, of hatred for sin, of 
reparation to Christ for the ingrati- 
tude and indiflference of mankind. 



[16] 



THE ANIMA CHRISTI 



ANIMA CHRISTI 

Anima Christi, sanctifica me. 
Corpus Christie salva me. 
Sanguis Christie inebria me. 
Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. 
Ta^sio Christie conforta me. 
O bone Jesu, exaudi me. 
Intra tua vulnera absconde me. 
N^ permittas me separari a te. 
Ab hoste maligno defende me. 
In hora mortis meae voca me. 
E^ jube me venire ad te. 
JJt cum Sanctis tuis laudem te. 
In saecula saeculorum. Amen. 

air: AMERICAN CATHOLIC 

HYMNAL NO. 322. 



[17] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 



ANIMA CHRISTI 

Soul of Christ, be my sanctification; 
Body of Christ, be my salvation; 
Wood of Christ, fill all my veins; 
yVater of Christ's side, wash out my 

stains; 
Tassion of Christ, my comfort be; 
O good Jesu, listen to me; 
In thy wounds I fain would hide, 
'Ne'er to be parted from Thy side; 
Guard me, should the foe assail me; 
Call me when my life shall fail me; 
Bid me come to Thee above, 
With Thy saints to sing Thy love, 

yVorld without end. Amen. 

CARDINAL Newman's translation. 



[18] 



THE ANIMA CHRISTI 



ANIMA CHRISTI 

Soul of Christy make a saint of me; 
^ody of Christ, he ransom of mine; 
'Blood of Christ, be my fiery wine; 
"Rill of Christ's side, cleanse the taint of 

me; 
Vassion of Christ, give me heart from thee; 
Good Jesus, harJcen and heed my 

prayer; 
Reopen Thy wounds and hide me there. 
That I never may dwell apart from thee. 
Yihen the foe attacks, let me cling to thee; 
And call me home at the end of my 

days 
To join with Thy saints in the song 
of praise, 
That forevermore they sing to Thee. 
Amen. 

F. P. D., SJ. 



[19] 



SUMMARY OF MEDITATIONS 
AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

Anima Christi, sanctifica me! 
Soul of Christ, sanctify me! 

PAGE 

THE FACULTIES OF CHRIST'S SOUL IN 
AGONY 13 

I. His Memory and Sin 
II. His Mind and Sin 
m. His WiU and Sin 

Corpus Christi, salva me! 
Body of Christy save me ! 

THE POWERS OF THE BODY AND OUR 
SALVATION 23 

I. The Senses and Christ's Use of them 
II The Imagination and its Fascinations 
III, The Passions and their Perversion 

Sanguis Christi, inebria me! 
Blood of Christy inebriate me ! 

ENKINDLING OF THE SOUL 31 

I. Christ's Blood — Wine 
n. Christ's Blood— Warmth 
III. Christ's Blood — Enthusiasm 

[21] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

AN HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND 
STRENGTH 

Aqua lateris Christi, lava me! 

Water from the side of Christ, wash me! 

PAGE 

A PETITION FOR PURITY OF SOUL. . . 39 

I. The Symbol of Baptism 
II. The Antidote for Concupiscence 
in. The Source of Unselfishness 

Passio Christi, conforta me! 
Passion of Christ, strengthen me! 

COURAGE OF SOUL 47 

I. The Comforting Angel 
: II. The Solace of Mart3rrs 
III. The Strength in Trials 

O bone Jesu, exaudi me! 
good JesuSy hear me ! 

SINCERE AND HOPEFUL PRAYER 56 

I. Reliance upon the Cross 
II. Confidence in the Saviour 
III. Trust in the Goodness of Jesus 



[22] 



SUMMARY OF MEDITATIONS 

AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

Intra tua vulnera absconde me! 
Within thy wounds hide me ! 

PAGE 

PERSEVERANCE WITH JESUS 63 

I. With His Wounded Hands in Charity 
II. With His Wounded Feet in Zeal 
in. With His Wounded Heart in the Theo- 
logical Virtues 

Ab hoste maligno def ende me ! 
From the malignant enemy defend me ! 

PERSEVERANCE AGAINST THE ENEMY 72 

I. The Cruelty of the Enemy 
II. The Severe Attacks of the Enemy 
III. The Malignant Craft of the Enemy 

In hora mortis meae voca me! 
In the hour of my death call me ! 

PERSEVERANCE TO THE END 81 

I. The Call to Joy 

Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te. 

Thaty with thy saints^ I may praise thee, 

II. The Intensity of Heaven's Joy 

In saecula saeculorum. Amen. 
For ever and ever. Amen. 

ni. The Eternity of Joy 

[23] 



ORDER OF TIME 

ORDER OF TIME FOR THE 
HOLY HOUR 

(Subject to change as time and devotion may 

demand) 

EXPOSITION OF THE BLESSED 

SACRAMENT 

Salutaris Hostia 

FIRST QUARTER 

Meditations and Prayers 

Hymn 

SECOND QUARTER 

Meditations and Prayers 

Hymn 

THIRD QUARTER 
Meditations and Prayers 
Hymn 

FOURTH QUARTER 

Tantum Ergo 
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament 

Hymn 

[Note: Where there is no Benediction, other 
hymns may be substituted for the usual Bene- 
diction hymns and in the Last Quarter the 
Rosary (sorrowful mysteries) or Litanies (see 
end of the book) may be recited.] 

[25] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

First Quarter 

THE FACULTIES OF CHRIST'S 
SOUL IN AGONY 

I. His Memory and Sin 
11. His Mind and Sin 
m. His WiU and Sin 



THE FACULTIES OF CHRIST'S 
SOUL IN AGONY 

Anima Christi sanctifica me 
Soul of Christ make a saint of me 

HIS MEMORY AND SIN 

The soul of Christ is a source of 
sanctity 



T 



HE home of holiness is in the soul, 
and that is why we come to the soul of 
Christ when we would have our souls 
become the homes of holiness and 
would have ourselves become saints. 
Holiness is tested and triumphs in 
the hour of trial. 

Only those are crowned and sainted 
Who with grief have been acquainted. 

That is why we come to you, our 
Saviour, and to your soul, the fount 
of sanctity, just as you are beginning 

[29] 



HOLY HOUB IN GETHSEMANE 

the greatest of all trials which any 
soul has been called upon to bear. Soul 
of Christ entering into your agony, 
into your contest with sin and suffer- 
ing, make us saints; bring us victori- 
ous from a like struggle with sin and 
suffering. 

The memory of Christ recalls man's 
sins 

In the soul of Christ is a memory, 
the memory of mankind. It is a mem- 
ory that has borne our infirmities and 
carried our sorrows, a memory that 
belongs to a man of sorrows and to 
one acquainted with infirmity. Not 
its own weaknesses or sorrows burden 
that memory. No, it is weighted down 
with the sins of all men. '^God hath 
laid on His soul the iniquity of us all." 
Had His memory to look back upon 
the treasures of its own life, it had a 
fair vision to gaze upon and to delight 
in, but unhappily for His soul's mem- 
ory, it had to widen the range of its 

[30] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

vision, it must go hhck to the dawn of 
God's world and must recall every 
hour of recorded time. That was the 
duty God put upon the memory of 
Jesus, and it surely had no pleasant 
prospect spread before it. No bright 
places, no sunny spots were presented 
to it. 

The memory of Christ hates the vision 
of sin 

The soul of Jesus in its memory looked 
upon the darkness and gloom of all 
time. Every sinner of the world and 
every sin Jesus had to remember. 
Men's memories, however black with 
their freight of wickedness, are re- 
lieved by occasional gleams of light. 
No one has been utterly bad all the 
time. But Jesus by His Father's will 
kept His memory in His hour of agony 
upon the sins of man. That was part 
of the bitter drink in the chalice which 
Grod's justice put to the lips of Jesus. 
The refined body shrinks from filth, 

[31] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

the tender flesh is chilled with horror 
at the touch of corruption, but what 
had Christ's delicate and sensitive soul 
to endure? The vision before His 
soul's memory was not far off; it was 
upon Him, not His by the guilt of com- 
mission, but His because He took all 
the world's foulness upon Him. He 
was as a leper and as one struck by 
God and afflicted. 

Christ's memory remembers that God's 
mercy may forget 

Memory of the soul of Christ, you 
recalled the world's sins and per- 
mitted your sight to be offended by 
them, from the sins of Adam and Cain 
to the sins of Peter and Judas. You 
recalled all sins that God might forget 
them utterly and forever and that 
man might once more stand before 
God cleansed of the leprosy of sin 
and might be bright with the fairness 
of sanctity. Memory of the soul of 
Christ, give me share in that blessing, 
[32] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

blot out with the forgetfulness of your 
mercy all my sins and make a saint of 
me. 

Director: Jesus, aflflicted with trials, 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, remembering all sins. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, detesting all sins. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, atoning for all sins, 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

PRAYER 

JESUS, my agonizing Saviour, whose 
remembrance was flooded and made 
black with the full hideousness of the 
world^s sins, help us here before thy 
Holy Sacrament, as we remember our 
evil and man^s ingratitude, to win for 
ourselves brighter innocence and more 
generous sanctity, through thy grace and 
blessing. Amen. 



[33] 



HIS MIND AND SIN 

The mind of Christ fathoms the malice 

of sin 



I 



N the soul of Christ is a mind. "Oh, 
the depth of the riches of the wisdom 
and of the knowledge of God!'' cries 
St. Paul. "How incomprehensible are 
his judgments and how unsearchable 
his ways! For who hath known the 
mind of the Lord.?" "In whom are 
hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge." Soul of Christ, when 
your memory recalled the sins of the 
past, your mind pierced into the future 
and read every dark page in the his- 
tory of sin until the record was com- 
plete. Your mind, by its wonderful 
keenness, not only swept all sins within 
its view, but it did what your soul's 
memory had not the power to do, your 

[34] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

mind weighed the enormity of that 
accumulated wickedness, your mind 
comprehended and understood the 
mahce of sin. 

The mind of Christ knows that sin 
is death 

As man turns in abhorrence from 
death, which is the utter enemy of 
man's Hfe, so the soul of Christ loathed 
the deadliness of sin. The wages of 
sin is death; eternal death for the 
angels whom God "spared not but de- 
livered them, drawn down by infernal 
ropes to the lower hell into torments, 
to be reserved unto judgment.'' The 
wages of sin is death, death of the 
bodies of mankind. ''For by man sin 
entered into this world, and by sin 
death, and so death passed upon all 
men." The soul of Christ by its sepa- 
ration from the body was to pay, too, 
the penalty of death, and His soul 
shrank from sin, knowing, as man and 
God, its deadly, fatal touch. 

[35] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

The mind of Christ comprehends the 
ugliness of sin 

When you lay stricken in your agony, 
my Redeemer, your mind saw, as 
never human mind saw before, the 
ughness of sin, deforming the soul more 
than disorder deforms a man's house, 
or fire deforms his dwellings or than 
accident and disease deform and dis- 
tort his body, or than insanity deforms 
and ruins his reason. Your mind 
understood the injustice of sin which 
robs God of His due and the treachery 
of sin which tempts man to forswear 
his allegiance to God and to go over 
traitorously to His enemies, and the 
repulsive ingratitude of sin which uses 
God's gifts against the Giver. 

The soul of Christ loves the beauty of 
sanctity 

Mind of the soul of Christ, mind 
that has fathomed the darkest depths 
of sin, that knows the fairest heights of 
holiness, mind that is enriched with all 
[36] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

truth and understands all goodness 
and is adorned with every principle 
of right living, mind of the Saint of 
saints, make me a saint. Open my 
eyes to see sin as you saw it, to measure 
sin as you measured it, to look upon 
goodness as you alone of men looked 
upon it, and to direct my steps along 
the way of sanctity under the guiding 
light of your principles. Mind of 
Christ's soul, make a saint of me. 

Director: From the malice of sin. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 
Director: From death, the wages of sin, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 
Director : From the treachery and in- 
gratitude of sin. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 
Director: From all obstacles to our 
holiness. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 
Director: By the faculties of thy 
agonizing soul, 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 

[37] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

PRAYER 

JESUS, whose soul is endowed with 
the deep wisdom and rich knowl- 
edge of God^ remove from our eyes the 
mists of ignorance and enlighten our 
minds that we may see sin as thou hast 
seen it^ and by a purer sanctity on our 
part offer to thee in thy Tabernacle some 
reparation for the evil and sinfulness of 
the world, through the help of thy grace. 
Amen. 



[38] 



I 



fflS WILL AND SIN 

The will of Christ hates sin 



N the soul of Christ Our Saviour is 
a will, a will to love and a will to hate, 
a will to resolve and be firm, a will 
which was made strong for action with 
the habits of every virtue. His will 
triumphed in His Agony, in the su- 
premest test any human will was ever 
called upon to endure. His will, endur- 
ing a bloody struggle, ranged itseK on 
the side of His Father's will. ''Not my 
will but thine be done,'' was the 
heroic cry of the soul of Jesus. No 
man's will had the power of loving 
such as His soul's will possessed. No 
will had loved God more than His 
human will, and so it was that no will 
hated sin more. No one knew sin and 
its ugliness more thoroughly, and so 
no will more than His turned with 

[39] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

such utter abhorrence from all iniquity 
and thrilled with warmer love of sanc- 
tity. Who did or could see all sin eye 
to eye with Him in one mass and who 
intimately comprehended all sin as if 
it were his own? Such a spectacle was 
disclosed to Jesus alone in His sad 
Agony. Soul of Christ, make a saint 
of me, give me your hatred of what is 
wicked and your love of what is holy. 

The will of Christ resolves to suffer 
for sin 

The will of Christ made in Geth- 
semane the firmest resolution ever 
made by any human will. To take 
that resolve, it had to face the 
most fearful tortures, — scourging and 
crowning with thorns, jeers and mock- 
ery and insults, fiendish malignity 
from enemies, betrayal and desertion 
by friends. His will's resolve encoun- 
tered the most intense fanaticism from 
his nation's priests and the unleashed 
might of Rome's great power. His 

[4o: 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

will to be one with His Father's will 
must lift the Cross and drag it up the 
hill of Calvary and be nailed to it 
and must die upon it the death of a 
slave and a malefactor. Crucifixion 
did not intimidate the will of Jesus. 
Soul of Christ, make a saint of me; 
give me such a determination to carry 
my cross, to scale my Calvary, and to 
suffer my crucifixion. There is no 
sanctity without the daily cross and 
frequent crucifixion. Will of Christ's 
soul, give me your will and make a 
saint of me. 

The will of Christ is fortified with 
virtue 

The will of our courageous Redeemer 
wrought acts of many virtues when 
He trod the wine-press alone in the 
darkness of the Garden. The soul of 
a saint is made strong and fortressed 
round about with the virtues of a 
saint. To live a peaceful, ordinary 
life calls for the practice of patience 

[41] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

and humility and charity and temper- 
ance and justice. What then were 
the virtues which were set in the will 
of Christ like strongly fortified citadels 
when He faced in Gethsemane the host 
of enemies encompassing Him? To be 
humble when trodden under foot and 
spat upon; to be patient when body 
and mind are tortured in every way; 
to accept thirst and weariness and pain 
without losing the least degree of tem- 
perance; to be just where injustice is 
blackest; to love, to pray for, to die 
for, enemies who are slaying you; to 
act so, is to make manifest a will like 
an impregnable stronghold encircled by 
walls of adamant. Soul of Christ, 
make a saint of me; give me such a 
will; and make me, day by day, in 
the struggle of life, by act upon act, 
to equip my will with every needful 
virtue. Will of Christ's soul, be your 
will done within my soul till I attain 
to sanctity. 

[42] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

Director: That our souls may abhor 
all evil, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. 
Director: That we may be resolved to 
suffer all rather than to sin, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. 
Director: That we may gain all vir- 
tues necessary for our sanctity, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. 

PRAYER 

JESUS, whose strong will has ever been 
one with the will of the Father, come 
to us in Holy Communion and strengthen 
our wills, so prone to evil, so weak in 
trials, so lacking in virtue that we may 
possess fully the goodness and patience 
and fortitude of thy saints, through the 
help of thy grace. Amen. 

HYMN 



[43] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 
Second Quarter 

THE POWERS OF THE BODY 
AND OUR SALVATION 

I. The Senses and Christ's Use of 
them 

11. The Imagination and its Fascina- 
tions 

III. The Passions and their Perversion 



THE POWERS OF THE BODY 
AND OUR SALVATION 

Corpus Christi, salva me 
Body of Christ, be ransom of mine 

THE SENSES AND CHRIST'S USE 
OF THEM 



C 



The senses of Christ aid in our 
salvation 



'HRIST our Lord took a body to 
ransom us from our captivity to sin 
and Satan and to save us in time and 
after time. We had been made cap- 
tives through the senses of the body, 
and we were to be ransomed with the 
help of the senses of His body. We 
might have been set free in many 
ways, but it seemed fitting to God's 
great wisdom to set us free by allow- 
ing His Son to take a body like ours 

[47] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

and so atone for us in the likeness of 
nature. 

The senses of Christ were kindly 
used in life 

The time was near at hand for the 
sacrifice of Christ's body. Our Saviour 
in the shadow of His approaching death 
began to feel the weight of His human 
nature. His senses had each and all 
their pleasure of living and their love 
of life. The eye rejoiced in seeing and 
the ear in hearing and both were op- 
pressed with heaviness at the prospect 
of being stilled in death with far greater 
heaviness than you and I should feel. 
Christ felt the oppression of every 
sense in His agony. His senses were 
more delicate than ours, at least in 
their exercise, if in no other way. What 
were the glances that came from His 
eyes! They lit up with love for Mary, 
His mother, and for Joseph and for 
many another. They softened with 
pity for the sick and suffering. They 
[48] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

looked with infinite longing upon sin- 
ners. They melted into tears for the 
dead and the doomed. 

The senses of Christ were tormented 
at His death 

What were the sights which in Geth- 
semane He foresaw about to be set 
before Him ! Fain would He close His 
heavy, feverish eyelids and shut out 
the frenzied mob, the cruel soldiers, and 
their hating and hateful leaders. Blood 
was now upon Him, the first tricklings 
of what would soon be streams; dark- 
ness now surrounded Him, a picture 
of the blackness that was to cover all 
the earth. It is no wonder that the 
eyes of Christ were heavy unto death. 
As with eyes, so too was it with ear and 
tongue and touch of every limb. The 
voices of love and the songs of praise 
were drowned in cries of hate and in 
harsh, discordant insults. The bitter 
gall and still more bitter ingratitude al- 
ready were poisoning the palate, remi- 

[49] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

niscent of Cana and the multiplied 
bread. Every limb and its every part 
tingled with the apprehension of tor- 
ture. He was to be touched, not as He 
had touched, in tenderness, in pity, in 
healing full of love; but He was to be 
touched in cruelty, in crushing harsh- 
ness, in deadly rending and tearing. 

Save me from the deception of the 
senses 

Body of Christ, save me. By that 
heaviness of your senses, save me from 
the weight of mine. Ransom me from 
the present captivity which would bring 
on my future enslavement. ^^Now, 
now,'' my senses cry to me; ''gratify 
us now. Heaven is far off and there 
will be time enough for it hereafter. 
Let us look and hear and touch and 
taste now.'' Body of Christ, save me 
from that deception. By the visions 
and sounds, the rough feelings and bit- 
ter savors which tortured your senses, 
strengthen me to rise superior to this 
[50] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

enslaving and blinding clamor of sense 
and so ensure for me my salvation. 
Body of Christ, save me. 

Director: Jesus, like to us in the 
senses of the body, 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, most merciful in the 
use of the senses. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, ungratefully tortured 
in all the senses, 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, most holy always in 
every sense. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

PRAYER 

TLTEAR US, Jesus , in thy Blessed 
Sacrament where thy holy body 
lives for us hidden to our view^ and as thy 
most hind senses blessed all during thy life 
and suffered lovingly for all in thy death, 
so may thy charity still keep us ever 
grateful and sinless unto life everlasting, 
through the help of thy grace. Amen. 

[51] 



T 



THE IMAGINATION AND ITS 
FASCINATIONS 

The imagination of Christ supers 
for us 



HE external senses of Christ were 
heavy in His Agony, but the internal 
sense of the imagination, where all the 
images of the past are stored away and 
combined into new shapes, that bodily 
imagination, was still more heavy. 
The imagination in us exaggerates; it 
deceives by seeming terrors and seem- 
ing delights. Out of trifles it evolves 
monsters for us. Indeed it was by the 
imagination more than by the external 
senses that Christ's body was weighed 
to the earth in Gethsemane. The imag- 
ination of Christ was human like ours 
and it was permitted by Him to pre- 
sent to His mind its spectres. Christ 
was not deceived, as we often are, but 
[52] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

His imagination made all evil star- 
tlingly vivid for Him. 

Man's imagination exaggerates 

The rich young man whom Jesus 
had looked upon with love and called 
to a life of poverty shrank from the 
appalling prospect which his imagina- 
tion conjured up before him. He had 
great possessions and he contemplated 
with horror a life made black by the 
loss of all his wealth. The Jewish 
people and especially their leaders set 
their hearts upon a temporal kingdom 
where they were to occupy high thrones 
above all their fellow men. That ex- 
aggerated picture of their imagination 
made the Jewish priests proud of their 
own excellence and filled the apostles 
and disciples with long discontent. 

Man's imagination deceives and 
disappoints him 

How alluring the pictures of the imag- 
ination become because of the exagger- 

[53] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

ated pleasures depicted by it! How 
terrifying the spectacles presented by 
the imagination to timid, cowardly hu- 
man nature! The imagination will en- 
tice a Magdalen to a life of shame and 
a Judas to a plan of revenge, and then 
leave both in disappointment when the 
colors have faded away and the fire 
has died to ashes. The imagination, if 
it could, would terrify the courage of 
virtue by intensifying the bitterness of 
humiliation and the dreariness of self- 
denial and the gloom that it depicts 
as enwrapping all the ways of good. 

The imagination of Christ saves from 
deception and despair 

But you, my Saviour, by allowing 
your imagination to depict for you in 
blackest colors the horror of the Passion 
have opposed and conquered the fas- 
cination and the discouragement of our 
imagination. You have helped to en- 
sure my safety by the suffering in your 
bodily imagination. Save then my 
[54] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS I 



imagination from deception; save it 
from enticement, save it from despair. 
Body of Christ, save me. 

Director: From the evils of our 
imagination, 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 
Director: From the exaggerations of 
the imagination, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 
Director: From the deceptions of the 

imagination. 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 
Director: By the powers of thy suffer- 
ing body, 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord. 

PRAYER 
TESUS, whose inward eye foresaw in 
thy Agony the dread torments of thy 
Passion, bless us, when lifted on high in 
the Benediction of thy Holy Sacrament, 
that we may not he deceived by the spectre 
of evil but be drawn ever to virtue by the 
visions of good, through the help of thy 
grace. Amen. 

[55] 



THE PASSIONS AND THEIR 
PERVERSION 

The body of Christ is ransom from 
our passions 



T 



HE senses and the imagination are 
purveyors to the passions, which are 
implanted in the body by the maker 
and intended for the good of man's 
body and of all mankind. The pas- 
sions are deeply rooted in the human 
body; they are buried in its flesh, 
enmeshed in its muscles and nerves 
and bathed and warmed by its blood. 
In fallen man the passions are rebel- 
lious subjects; they are encaged ani- 
mals restlessly pacing to and fro 
and gnawing at their prison bars. In 
the body of Jesus the passions were 
subject to reason, but when He en- 
tered into His Agony and was stained 
and burdened with our iniquities, His 
[56] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

sacred body felt, no doubt, as much as 
could be without personal guilt, the bur- 
den of the passions and made atonement 
for their excesses in us. 

Perverted ^passions produce vice, 
instead of virtue 

The body needs the passions, but, 
alas, they may be too easily perverted. 
What are the seven capital vices, the 
seven deadly sins, as they are called, 
what are they but the poisoned wells 
of passion? Those springs of perverted 
nature needed purification. The body 
must be preserved, not destroyed by 
its passions. Sloth must change to 
self-supporting energy; intemperance in 
food or drink, to health and strength; 
unchasteness to the sacred marriage ties 
of father and mother; pride to honor- 
able seK-respect; envy to unselfish love; 
avarice to necessary wealth; anger 
to courageous patience and meek- 
ness. An immense chasm yawns be- 
tween the right and wrong use of the 

[57] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

passions, and it was in His Agony 
Christ bridged for us that dread chasm. 

Christ's body atones for the deadly 
sins 

Christ met every deadly sin with 
all its hideous streams in the past and 
all its black tides through future years 
and made the soiled and turbid cur- 
rents crystal and shining in the sun- 
shine of His grace. Christ in His 
Passion felt the sting of the deadly 
sins and won for us solace and healing. 
His thirst and hunger, His poverty and 
humiliation, the shameful treatment of 
His pure body, His generous, full- 
hearted charity, His uncomplaining 
meekness and patience, these were the 
remedies for passions; these were the 
torments of His body. 

Christ's body saves from evil passions 

Body of Christ, save me from my 
passions; and make them my food and 
life, not my poison and death. Body 
[58] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

of Christ, by the power with which you 
atoned for the deadly sins of mankind, 
by the virtues of your Passion which 
furnished the antidote for the capital 
vices which enfeeble mankind, remove 
these diseases from my body and so 
ensure my safety. Body of Christ, 
save me. 

Director: That our passions be sub- 
ject to reason, 

Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. 
Director: That our passions lead us 
not into vices. 

Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. 
Director: That the sufferings of 
Christ's body be our strength. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. 



[59] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 



PRAYER 

A NGUISHED Saviour of souls, whose 
pure body was attacked by man's 
deadly sins, grant to us, who at the altar 
partake of thy holy and sanctifying body, 
that the passions of our flesh and blood 
may never be perverted to our ruin, but 
rather may aid to our salvation, through 
the help of thy grace. Amen. 

HYMN 



[60] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 
Third Quarter 

ENKINDLING OF THE SOUL 

I. Christ's Blood — Wine 
11. Christ's Blood — Warmth 
III. Christ's Blood — Enthusiasm 



ENKINDLING OF THE SOUL 

Sanguis Christi inebria me 
Blood of Christy be my fiery wine 

CHRIST'S BLOOD — WINE 

The blood of Christ is wine 



Wi 



HY is thy apparel red/' asks 
Isaias, "and thy garments Uke theirs 
that tread the wine-press?'' And the 
answer comes back in words which 
have been put by the Church upon the 
Hps of our Saviour. ''I have trodden 
the wine-press alone." Christ, Our 
Lord, in His Agony was trampling upon 
the grapes of His vineyard and crush- 
ing out in unstinted streams a most 
precious wine. His soul acted as the 
wine-press driven down by the irre- 
sistible power of His will; His body 
was made the vintage, and from a 
thousand jets of anguish spurts forth 

[63] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

His blood, the most precious wine, 
which the steward kept to the last. 
This is the wine of which the psalmist 
speaks: '^My chalice which inebriates 
me, how goodly it is!" This is the 
wine to which Isaias alludes: "They 
shall be inebriated with the plenty of 
thy house and thou shalt make them 
drink of the torrent of pleasure. For 
with thee is the fountain of life.'' Of 
this wine Jeremias makes mention: 
^'1 have inebriated the weary soul and 
have filled every hungry soul." 

The blood of Christ is saving wine 

The prophets spoke in figures but 
we have the reality. The souls of all 
mankind were left stricken down by 
sin as the man to whom the good 
Samaritan came, and they were to die 
forever. Then the Saviour poured into 
their wounds the wine of His blood 
and put that goodly chalice to their 
lips. Then they were refreshed and 
came back to life. That wine saved 
[64] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

US in its first pressing when shed all 
the way from Gethsemane to Calvary 
and now saves us daily in the Blessed 
Sacrament. 

The blood of Christ is strengthening 
wine 

That wine brings its saving and heal- 
ing strength to us in every sacrament. 
Our good Samaritan never leaves us, 
and the purple of that wine is never 
dry in our wounds. When we dip our 
hands in the holy water font at the 
church door, we touch ourselves with 
Christ's blood, which is the source of 
grace in every sacramental. When we 
move our lips in prayer and bring 
down the help of God, our lips are 
fruitful because they have been wet 
with the wine of Calvary. When we 
leave the confessional, we have applied 
to our souls the blood of the Paschal 
Lamb and have escaped the angel of 
death. The blood of Christ is truly 
our fiery wine, and we should be filled 

[65] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

with it, each and every one of us. 
Blood of Christ, with thy grace inebri- 
ate me. 

Director: Jesus, treading the wine- 
press alone. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, saving souls by the 
wine of thy blood. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, making thy blood a 
source of grace. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

PRAYER 

TESTIS, who in thy Agony wast bruised 
and crushed for us, as the grapes are 
in the wine-press, and whose veins poured 
forth thy blood in copious and saving 
streams, continue still, we beg of thee, 
to shed upon our altars the blood of 
sacrifice and bring to our souls through 
every channel of salvation thy helpful 
and preserving grace. Amen. 

[66] 



CHRIST'S BLOOD — WARMTH 

Christ's blood is warmth of our heart 



T 



HE wine of Gethsemane should set 
the soul on fire. It is warm and warm- 
ing blood. When our bodies glow with 
the putting forth of earnest energy, 
then the beads of sweat stand out on 
face and hand. What, therefore, was 
the heat and effort which wet our 
Saviour with the sweat of His own 
blood.? It was the struggle between 
love and death. The unbounded fire 
of Christ's love for us grappled with 
the horrors of the Passion, and the 
ardent vigor of the combat drenched 
Him in His own blood. The wine of 
Christ's Agony should kindle within 
us the fever of love, — such a fever as 
fills the home, sending the father forth 
to toil, inspiring the children to sacri- 
fices, melting the mother to tenderness 

[67] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

and drawing all hearts within its en- 
veloping flames. It is love which 
sends the blood rushing through the 
veins and it is love makes the red 
stream strain its channels as if they 
were to burst. The blood of Christ 
will be wine in us, if the sight of His 
blood set us on fire with love for Him. 

Christ's blood gives us kinship of soul 

Drop into my heart but a spark of 
the conflagration which raged in your 
blood. Give to me some of that affec- 
tion which burned and throbbed in 
you. Mother and father and children 
love one another ardently because the 
same blood flows in their veins, but 
your blood, my Saviour, flows into my 
very soul, saving it. Intense then 
should the fire burn with me; higher 
should its flames ascend than in any 
earthly love. Blood of Christ, be my 
fiery wine. Blood of Christ, make 
me aflame with love of you. 

[68] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

Christ's blood is warmed in Christ's 
Heart 

The wines of earth are more or less 
ardent, depending upon the fields where 
their grapes grew- If the climate is 
cold and sunless, the wine will be dry 
and harsh; if the grapes are bathed 
and warmed by constant sunshine in 
southern lands, then they produce 
sweet warm wine. From what source 
came the wine of Gethsemane? What 
was its mellowing sun? The blood 
which we pray to be wine to us came 
from the loving Heart of Christ. The 
blazing warmth of infinite love filled 
full that red vintage with the strength 
and sweetness of divinity. If the 
blood of Christ is to w^arm us, we 
must bring our hearts close to His 
Heart. Bring my heart beneath the 
powerful rays of your Heart that I 
may store away within me some of the 
strength of your divine love. Blood 
of Christ, be my fiery wine of love 

[69] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

and with ardor inebriate me sweetly 
and potently. 

Director: From indifference and 
weakness, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From a lack of ardent love. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From a cold and timid 
heart. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: By the blood of thy Heart, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 

PRAYER 

pjURNING source of infinite love, 
most generous Heart of Jesus, draw 
us all to thy altar-rail in Communion 
that in this careless and sinful world our 
hearts may have enkindled in them an 
intense and divine ardor, through the 
help of thy grace. Amen. 



[70] 



CHRIST'S BLOOD — ENTHUSIASM 



The blood of Christ awakens from 
lethargy 



T 



HE wine of Gethsemane should 
heal our wounds and fill our veins and 
warm us with love, but it should not 
cease there its good work. Pray that 
the blood of Christ shed in His Passion, 
all the way from the Garden of Olives 
to the bleak hill of Crucifixion, may 
give us courage and enthusiasm and 
may overmaster us, consecrating us 
entirely to Him and His service. Cus- 
tom and familiarity have dulled for us 
the torments of Christ's Passion. We 
have read of His sufferings so often, 
we have heard them described so many 
times, that we have grown cold and 
unresponsive. But on occasions like 
this when we gather before the Blessed 
Sacrament and make a special effort 

[71] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

to live over again the Agony of the 
Saviour, we need some of the molten 
energy of a lava stream to break through 
the hard and frigid crust of indiffer- 
ence. Such volcanic fire and impetuos- 
ity should come from the shedding of 
Our Saviour's blood. A mother for- 
gets her weakness and timidity if she 
beholds her bleeding child. A father 
flames into blind rage if his home is 
laid waste and his loved ones cut down. 
A whole nation will thrill at the killing 
of even one citizen. But we are un- 
moved at the dreadful carnage that 
visited Jesus in His Passion. Custom, 
however, had not laid its cold, deaden- 
ing hand upon His Heart. No pain, 
no single sorrow had a dulled edge as 
it cut its way through His sensitive- 
ness into His life. Blood of Christ, 
awaken me, quicken me with new life 
and with keen sympathy. Blood of 
Christ, fill my veins with thy ardor. 



[72] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

The blood of Christ filled Him with 
enthusiasm 

Enthusiasm is a characteristic of the 
world's heroes: enthusiasm possessed 
Christ our Lord when He began and 
when He finished His journey towards 
death. His enthusiasm dominated Him 
and swept away all obstacles from His 
determined path, but it did not dis- 
turb or bewilder Him. His soul was 
enthusiastic, but He possessed it in 
patience. His blood surged through 
His veins, ardent, eager, triumphant, 
as resolutely but calmly, enthusiasti- 
cally but with self-possession, He ran 
the gauntlet of His enemies through 
the streets of Jerusalem and up the 
hill upon which He was to die. It 
was not the enthusiasm of a mountain 
brook but rather the steady onward 
sweep of a great river or rather the 
irresistible advance of an ocean tide. 



[73] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

The blood of Christ should fill us with 
enthusiasm 

How little enthusiasm we manifest! 
Jesus is wrung with torture from head 
to foot, and we do not wince. Jesus 
struggles onward with the Cross we 
have put upon His shoulders, and we 
do not even toss restlessly in our pro- 
found sleep. Jesus is mantled with 
the red vesture of His blood, a gar- 
ment He has put on for us, and we will 
not so much as permit our cheeks to 
be tinged with a blush of shame. Alas, 
there is none of the enthusiasm of 
Christ in us. The wine of His blood 
does not run riotously in our cold 
veins. Blood of Christ, fill me with 
enthusiasm! Blood of Christ, inflame 
me with overmastering love! 

Director: That our hearts be filled 
with sympathy for Jesus, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. , 
[74] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

Director: That our hearts be warm 
with the devotion of Jesus, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. 
Director: That our hearts be fired 
with the enthusiasm of Jesus, 

Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us. 

PRAYER 

TESUS, whose blood throbbed eagerly 
with love of us, whose ardor was not 
chilled by torment or death, send forth 
from thy Tabernacle to thy sluggish and 
cold-hearted followers the fire of energy 
and enthusiasm, that we grow not faint 
but "press on faithful to the end, through 
the help of thy grace. Amen. 



[75] 



AN HOUR FOR HOLINESS 

Fourth Quarter . 

TANTUM ERGO AND BENEDICTION 

or 

ROSARY (Sorrowful Mysteries) 

or 

LITANIES (q.v.) 



AN HOUR FOR PERFECTION 
AND STRENGTH 

First Quarter 

A PETITION FOR PURITY OF 
SOUL 

I. The Symbol of Baptism 
II. The Antidote for Concupiscence 
III. The Source of Unselfishness 



A PETITION FOR PURITY OF 
SOUL 

Aqua lateris Christi, lava me 

Rill of Christ's side, cleanse the taint 
of me 

THE SYMBOL OF BAPTISM 



A: 



The water from Christ's side is a 
symbol of baptism 



.FTER the blood had poured from 
the head and body and from every 
member of Christ, after His Heart had 
been pierced so that even that rich 
source of His saving blood might not 
withhold any of its treasures, after 
all that, following the point of the 
Centurion's spear came rushing out 
the water from Christ's side. Blood 
and water from the Heart of Christ, 
they represent, as the Fathers of the 
Church have taught, the two great 
sacraments of the Church, Baptism 

[79] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

and Holy Eucharist; Baptism by which 
we are born into the Church, Holy 
Eucharist by which we are kept alive 
in the Church. As God opened the 
side of Adam to create his bride, Eve, 
so from the open side of Christ issued 
His bride, the Church, because Bap- 
tism and Holy Eucharist are two chief 
sacraments of the Church, the one a 
necessary condition for entering the 
Church, the other a necessary con- 
dition for life in the Church. 

Chrisfs baptism cleanses us of sin 

Baptism is the fruitful rill, springing 
from Christ's Heart and making its 
way through the centuries, cleansing 
and purifying the souls of men. Wider 
and wider has spread that stream, 
embracing in its crystal currents larger 
and larger numbers as time went on. 
That stream met us at our entrance 
into life. It laved us in its living 
waters. It washed away our inherited 
stain of sin. It restored to our souls 

[80] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

the beauty and likeness of God. When, 
therefore, the vision of sin and its 
hideous presence terrified Christ our 
Lord in His Agony, He beheld too the 
great flood of Baptism which took its 
source from His wounded side and 
traced its onward journey, ever remov- 
ing the soil of sin and ever bringing to 
birth new children to His Church and 
presenting to His Father new heirs 
for His Kingdom. 

Christ's baptism should reach all souls 

We are grateful for our Baptism. 
We will be zealous that all souls re- 
ceive the Baptism of Christ. We will 
by our prayers and good example bring 
many to Christ's Church and thus be- 
come god-parents of countless souls. 
We will lift them up to the baptismal 
fount of the Cross and, as they cannot 
speak, we will speak for them, and as 
we intercede for them in prayer and 
good work, in each and every one of 
their persons and for them, we will 

[81] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

cry, "Take away from me the sin of 
Adam, make me a member of your 
Church and a child of God. Rill of 
Christ's side, cleanse the taint of me/' 

Director: Jesus, typifying baptism by 
the water from thy side. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, removing from our 
souls original sin, 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, suflfering and dying 
for all mankind. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

PRAYER 

TESTIS from whose ^pierced Heart 
flowed forth blood and water, types 
of thy sacraments of Baptism and Holy 
Eucharist, grant to us and all weak and 
sinful children of Adam that we be made 
pure by the saving waters of Baptism 
and be kept ever pure by the heavenly 
food of the altar, through the help of thy 
grace. Amen. 

[82] 



THE ANXroOTE FOR CONCUPISCENCE 



The water of Christ's side cleanses 
actual sin 



u 



NHAPPILY the cleansing of Bap- 
tism is not enough. The taint of actual 
sin comes upon the soul when its body 
grows to maturity, when its eyes open 
to the view of life, when its mind 
ranges over the excellent things in the 
world. Body, eye, and mind are all so 
many ways by which the soul is once 
more stained and needs another cleans- 
ing beside that of Baptism. ''All that 
is in the world,'' says St. John, "is 
the concupiscence of the flesh and the 
concupiscence of the eyes and the pride 
of life.'' Into that concupiscence may 
the cooling water of Christ's side find 
entrance to still the flames and wash 
away the blackness that often take 
their rise from evil inclination! 

[83] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

It cools the concupiscence of the flesh 

The concupiscence of the flesh em- 
braces hunger and thirst and all desires 
by which the body of man and the 
race of man is kept alive. It was 
God's wish that these appetites should 
be under control of the reason, but sin 
entered the soul, concupiscence re- 
belled, and now the bodies of men are 
the battle-fields of warring passions. 
Gluttony, intemperance and lust 
wound and kill the soul. These pas- 
sions must be dipped in the cooling 
and cleansing water which flows from 
Christ's side. 

It washes away the concupiscence of 
the eyes 

The concupiscence of the eyes is a 
nobler attraction than the concupis- 
cence of the flesh, yet through the 
eyes, the windows of the soul, floats 
in the dust of sin, settling down upon 
the soul and covering it with degrad- 
[84] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

ing stains. How fascinating and allur- 
ing is the spectacle which is spread 
before our eyes! It is hot strange that 
wealth should make the world captive 
when the eyes behold the vast estates, 
the palatial houses, the countless luxu- 
ries which wealth furnishes. It is not 
strange that the taint of greed, of dis- 
honesty, of commercial rivalry, yes, 
of actual warfare of one nation with 
another, should all come from the con- 
cupiscence of the eyes. The water of 
Christ's side has work to do to wash 
away that impurity. 

It cleanses the taint of pride 

Finally the pride of life, the honors 
of men, a place in society, a position 
above others, high oflSces in some or- 
ganization or in the state, uncontrolled 
ambitions, with what jealousies and 
quarrels and slanders and deceitful 
living and even bloodshed, have not 
these manifestations of the pride of 
life filled the world and tainted man- 

[85] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

kind? Water of Christ's side, cleanse 
the world of that taint of pride. 

Jesus in life and in death conquers 
concupiscence 

When Jesus in His Agony saw the 
sinful souls of men before Him, He 
beheld the concupiscence of the flesh, 
the concupiscence of the eyes, and the 
pride of life, all three sources of evil, 
pouring forth their polluting streams 
and blackening His dear children with 
the corruption of sin. In His tempta- 
tion He strove with those three ten- 
dencies and conquered them, spurning 
the tempter's offer of food, the glories 
of the world, and finally ambition, as 
He stood upon the pinnacle of the 
temple. Now in His Agony He saw 
the same three unholy desires over- 
whelming the children of men. He 
willed then to have His side laid open 
and a new healing fountain disclosed 
to us. The water of Christ's side is 
cool, is pure, is penetrating. It came 

[86] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

from the depths of His Heart; it will 
find its way into the depths of our 
hearts and purify the poisoned wells of 
our life, controlling and purifying every 
desire of ours. Water of Christ's side, 
cleanse the taint of me! 

Director: From the concupiscence of 
the flesh, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From the concupiscence of 
the eyes, 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From the pride of life. 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: By the pure, cooling water 
of thy side, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 



[87] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

PRAYER 

T^HE concupiscence of the flesh and 
the concupiscence of the eyes and 
the pride of life, these, dear Lord and 
Redeemer, beset us perilously on every 
side^ and we call upon thee who art now 
before us in the sacrament of thy love, 
to remove them and all other incentives 
to sin far from our souls through the 
virtue of the water which flowed from 
thy wounded Heart. Amen. 



[88] 



THE SOURCE OF UNSELFISHNESS 

The water of Christ's side is the consum- 
mation of the Passion 



T 



HE water of Christ's side is indeed 
a symbol of Baptism; it is a purifying 
and refreshing tide removing the stain 
of sin, but it is more; it represents the 
end and complete consummation of 
Christ's Passion. One after another 
Jesus gave up all the good things 
of life, companions and disciples and 
friends; one after another He let 
HimseK be robbed of what is precious 
to all men. His beauty. His life, His 
reputation; one after another every- 
thing He loved went from Him because 
through love of us He relinquished 
them. His mother was bequeathed to 
another; His Father seemed to aban- 
don Him. The blood that in His 
Agony was shed in beads of sweat 

[89] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

had afterwards gushed forth from gap- 
ing wounds, from torn flesh, from every 
member until finally that river of 
many branches, through all its mouths, 
by all its channels, and out of its well- 
spring and last source, from head and 
foot and heart, emptied its saving cur- 
rents and drained dry every drop of 
its precious contents. 

It is the last gift of Christ 

What more was left? What else was 
there to give? Wonderful, loving gen- 
erosity of Christ! He permitted the 
centurion's spear to strike in deeper 
and reveal to us another treasure still, 
a rill of water, last gift of the dead 
Saviour and measure of His measure- 
less generosity because that gift showed 
there was no more to give. My loving 
Saviour, thinking of your unselfish 
goodness and witnessing the lavish 
extravagance of your love, how black 
and how forbidding my selfishness 
appears! Water of Christ's side, wash 

[90] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

away my stinginess; cleanse that taint 
of me. 

It cleanses the taint of selfishness 

Sin is seK-seeking and the worst kind 
of selfishness. It is mean and deceit- 
ful selfishness when it is not open and 
avowed selfishness. Sin will endeavor 
to parade under various disguises. 
Patriotism cloaks ambition; friendship 
is a decoy for unholy passion; touchy 
self-respect masks the pettiness of 
pride; even our gratitude is often as- 
sumed and most of our gifts, bearing 
the label, ''With the compliments of," 
have another label beneath reading, 
''Quick returns and large profits.'' 
Here is work for the generous rill 
that springs from the side of Christ; 
to cleanse away the taint of selfishness, 
to remove the sham and pretenses, to 
wipe off the rouge and attain to reali- 
ties. Rill of Christ's side, flow into the 
sight of my soul, and wash away all 
that obscures my vision; show me my 

[91] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

sin and selfishness and then, rill of 
Christ's side, cleanse that taint of me. 

Director: That we may learn self- 
sacrifice. 
Adorers : We beseech thee to hear us ! 
Director: That we may imitate thy 
generosity. 

Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That the water of thy side 
wash away all selfishness. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 

PRAYER 

TESTIS, bountiful giver of all good 
gift^y forget not the lavish generosity 
by which thy Heart was for our sake 
utterly drained of all its precious con- 
tents^ and taking pity upon us^ thy cold 
and selfish followers, and having fed us 
with thy body and blood, warm our hearts 
with a generous spirit of self-sacrifice 
through the help of thy grace. Amen. 

HYMN 

[ 92 ] 



AN HOUR FOR PERFECTION 
AND STRENGTH 

Second Quarter 

COURAGE OF SOUL 

I. The Comforting Angel 

n. The Solace of Martyrs 

in. The Strength in Trials 



s 



COURAGE OF SOUL 

Passio Christi, conforta me 

Passion of Christy give me heart 

from thee 

THE COMFORTING ANGEL 

The whole Passion is now our 
strength 



O far In all the petitions of this 
prayer, we have taken the Passion of 
our Saviour in parts; in this petition 
we beg strength from the Passion in 
its entirety. The separate beams of 
light that streamed from the Cross 
are now focused into one warmth and 
brightness. Jesus is called the Sun of 
Justice. He is the Orient from on 
high, whose dawning brought us hope 
and whose setting brought us salva- 
tion. That Sun of Justice hung against 

[95] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

the sky and indeed had a blood-red 
setting behind the dark clouds of death. 
From soul and body, from the blood 
and water of His wounds, came rays 
to us to sanctify and save, to invigo- 
rate and purify. The various rays now 
merge into one, and we beg the whole 
Passion to shed upon us its united 
heat and light. We would bathe in 
the ruddy and healthful splendor of 
the Sun of Justice. We need that 
light to illumine and encourage us; 
we need its warmth to strengthen us. 
Thinking of what we have asked in 
this prayer, realizing the holiness, the 
salvation, the ardent enthusiasm and 
the perfect purity, which we have ven- 
tured to demand of Jesus by virtue of 
each part of Him, we might easily lose 
heart. That is why we want now the 
whole Passion to enfold and sustain us. 
Passion of Christ, give me heart from 
thee. 



[96] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

Christ had in His Passion a comforting 

angel 

There was an angel in the back- 
ground when Christ, our Lord suffered 
His agony. Was it His guardian-angel, 
one of those who came and ministered 
to Him after His long fast and fearful 
temptations in the desert? There is a 
likeness between the action of the 
angel of Temptation and the angel of 
the Agony. Both are strengthening 
and comforting angels. They do not 
come before the conflict to avert it; 
they come after, to reward the one who 
has carried the conflict through to the 
end. Both came where there was a 
struggle with sin. Both are ever in 
the background and do not depart 
until they have given heart to the one 
they protect. Then if they do go, it 
is only for a time. The Angel of the 
Temptation left Jesus for a time. It 
was he, no doubt, who returned at the 
Agony; and the Angel of the Agony, 

[97] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

we may believe, was one of those that 
returned at the Resurrection. 

The Passion of Christ is our 
comforting angel 

Christ had His Angels to minister 
to Him and give Him Heart, but He 
Himself is our comforting angel. We 
need Him to be the angel of the Temp- 
tation and the white-robed angel of 
the Resurrection, but we need Him 
perhaps most of all when His vesture 
is dyed with His blood. "Not yet,'' 
cries St. Paul, "have you resisted unto 
blood.'' Maybe we have and, if we 
have done so courageously, it is be- 
cause our red-robed Angel of Agony, 
Christ in His Passion, has been at 
our side, not keeping the struggle 
away from us but upholding us in it, 
not dashing the chalice from our lips 
but steeling our hands to lift it and 
hearts to drain it. Passion of Christ, 
give me heart from thee. Let me feel. 
Angel of my Agony, that you are in 

[98] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

the shadows about me, that your 
hands hang in benediction above me, 
that your thrilHng, heartening touch 
is never far from me, that it is you 
and not the hideous spectres of my 
cowardice which people the gloom in 
which I lie. Passion of Christ, give 
me heart from thee. 

Director : Jesus, Sun of Justice, 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director : Jesus, comforted by angels, 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, going courageously 
to die. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, rising gloriously from 
the tomb. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 



[99] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

PRAYER 

r> EGARD, Strong Son of God, our 
weak and timid hearts , and, as thy 
angels came to strengthen thee after thy 
temptation and thy agony, so may they 
come now to us in prayer before thy 
Blessed Sacrament and send us forth to 
the conflicts of life, full of courage and 
fortitude, through the help of thy grace. 
Amen. 



[ 100] 



THE SOLACE OF MARTYRS 

The Passion is the strength of the 
Church 



T 



HE Passion of Christ has been al- 
ways the strength of the Church and 
of all her children. A great writer, 
watching a beautiful sunset, expressed 
a fervent wish that the day might be 
*' immortal in its dying/' Such a sun- 
set was that upon Calvary, immortal 
in its dying. We still see, as many and 
many before us have seen, the blood- 
red heavens above the hill where Christ 
is dying. The martyrs are those chil- 
dren of the Church who have had most 
heart, and it is they who have fixed 
their gaze most steadfastly upon Cal- 
vary. How often during the hours of 
their passion did this most necessary 
petition come from their hearts. Passion 
of Christ, give me heart from thee ! 

C 101 ] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

The Passion prepared the martyrs 

As Christ foresaw His sufferings, so 
did the martyrs foresee theirs. They 
had father or mother or relative or 
friends who before them had gone to 
face torture, and they knew what was 
coming to them. Where did their 
strength and courage come from? 
From Christ in His Agony. The mar- 
tyrs crept near to Him. They were not 
overcome with the heaviness of sleep. 
They were kept keenly awake under the 
sharp edge of their fears. So they fell 
on their knees beside their agonizing 
Saviour. They watched Him; they 
touched their lips to the hem of His gar- 
ments. What is this that wets their 
lips.'^ What is that fire which lifts the 
lead from their hearts.? They touched 
the hem of His garments and virtue 
went out from Him. They prayed, 
*' Passion of Christ, give me heart from 
thee!'' and when answered, they arose 
and went forth to meet their persecutors. 
[ 102 ] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

The Passion upheld the martyrs in 
suffering 

The pains of the martyrs after that 
prayer were not less keen, but they 
themselves were more courageous. 
They quivered beneath the lash; they 
winced at the stings of the thorns; 
they were crushed to earth by their 
crosses, but they did not cry out 
in anger or recrimination or despair. 
They were reenacting the Passion of 
Christ, and however sharp and agoniz- 
ing was their torture, they would never 
raise their voices in complaint. He 
was silent, and they would be silent 
because His Passion had put heart 
into them. Passion of Christ, I am a 
coward and a weakling. I rebel and 
protest clamorously. Passion of Christ, 
give me heart from thee. 



[103] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

The Passion gave heart to the martyrs 
dying 

Finally, in the awful hour of their 
death, the martyrs looked to the Pas- 
sion for courage and strength. In 
whatever form death came to them, 
they beheld their suffering Saviour. 
His silence was a veil about their 
ears; His blood swept like a mist before 
their eyes; His resolute strength envel- 
oped them as with armor and they 
were brave to the end. The instrument 
of death which sought their heart had 
been already buried in His Heart, 
their crosses stood beside His Cross, 
and as the shadows of the tomb closed 
in upon them, they heard His voice 
say, ''This day thou shalt be with me 
in paradise.'' Passion of Christ, giving 
brave hearts to all the martyrs, give 
me heart from thee. 



[104] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

Director: From weakness in persecu- 
tion, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From impatience under 
pain, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From despair in death. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director : By thy Agony and Passion, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 

PRAYER 

/^OME, Jesus, Manna of heaven, 
^^ come from thy altar home to us 
thy feeble children who are persecuted 
and endure pain, and as thy martyrs 
found strength in thy divine food, so 
may thy sacred body be for us in every 
sorrow a strong and enheartening sup- 
port, through the power of thy grace. 
Amen. 



[105] 



THE STRENGTH IN TRIALS 

The Passion gives heart in little 
trials 



W: 



E have our agonies; we have our 
crucifixions. They are Httle or noth- 
ing when compared with the Agony 
and Crucifixion of Christ, but they are 
gigantic and fearful when compared 
with our pitiable weakness. We have 
no heart to face one minute of agony, 
much less one hour of it. We chafe at 
the little things which vex us in our 
homes. A scornful laugh falls upon 
our tender feelings with the sting of a 
scourge. Forge tfulness or lack of 
attention or trivial accidents are so 
many thorns piercing us on all sides. 
We are denied some show of affection 
and our hearts are pierced to the core. 
How insignificant, how petty all this 
is when set side by side with the Passion 
[106] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

of Christ! But alas for us, we do not 
look to Christ in His Agony or to Jesus 
upon His Cross. We are too much 
engaged in counting our grievances, in 
fondling our little selfishness. We are 
weaklings and we need the strength of 
the Passion. Passion of Christ, give 
me heart from thee. 

The Passion gives heart in great 
trials 

Yet not all of our trials are trivial 
ones. Sickness comes upon us and 
sorrow fills our days. Our best efforts 
end in disappointment. We struggle 
and keep on struggling and yet we 
fail. Are we to become helpless in- 
valids? Are we to see no light breaking 
in upon our gloom .^ Are we always to 
be defeated and never to enjoy the 
sweets of victory.? Surely, there is no 
such unhappy prospect before us. But 
as we stumble and fall beneath our 
burdens, we fear that some day we 
shall not rise again. A steep hillside 

[107] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

looms before us and, look, upon its 
slopes there are the prints of One who 
has struggled up that rugged steep. 
And is not that a stain of blood we 
make out? Assuredly we need a 
strong, sustaining hand in these sad 
trials, and we find it in Him who has 
gone before us and Whose footsteps 
we are following. Passion of Christ, 
give me heart from thee. 

Director: That thy Agony may help 
us in our agonies. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That thy suffering be a 
support in our sufferings. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That thy death may com- 
fort us in our death, 

Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 



[108] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 



J 



PRAYER 

ESUS, our crucified leader^ who hast 
Jor us unflinchingly traveled the 
painful way of the Cross^ and who now 
hast made our altars thy hospitable home, 
welcome us with sustaining love when we 
come to visit thee here and share with us 
the courage of thy Heart, that we may 
bear our cross willingly and mount 
bravely to our crucifixion, through the 
help of thy grace. Amen. 



HYMN 



[109] 



AN HOUR FOR PERFECTION 
AND STRENGTH 

Third Quarter 

SINCERE AND HOPEFUL 
PRAYER 

I. Reliance upon the Cross 
II. Confidence in the Saviour 
III. Trust in the Goodness of Jesus 



SINCERE AND HOPEFUL 
PRAYER 

O bone Jesu, exaudi me 
Good Jesus, harken and heed my 
prayer 

RELIANCE UPON THE CROSS 

In all our petitions we are sincere 



H 



ARKEN and heed my prayer." 
We have gone halfway through this 
prayer and after asking for so many 
favors, we grow inistent that our 
petitions be answered. We are sincere; 
we want what we ask for. Listen to 
me and give me what I seek; that is 
each one's earnest and heartfelt cry 
to Jesus in His Agony and Passion. 
It is well we should pause at times 
and note our own words and reflect 
upon our intentions, weighing and 

[ 113 ] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

testing to determine whether we really 
mean what we say. Prayers may 
grow automatic. We may ask for 
sanctity, for salvation, for zeal, and 
for purity and for strength, without 
fully intending what our prayers sig- 
nify. To avoid such self-deception, 
we pause now in these petitions, and 
facing our souls, we recall what we 
sought from Christ and say to Him 
out of our entire heart: ''Harken and 
heed my prayer." 

In our "petitions we have come to 
Christ's Cross 

Our Saviour said, ^^If I be lifted up 
from the earth, I will draw all things 
to myself." What else have we been 
asking for in this prayer except the 
perfect fulfillment of the words of our 
Saviour. And now we are sure that 
we desire that all we have and are 
should be drawn to Christ, Who is 
lifted up before us. Draw our souls 
to your soul by making them holy; 
[ 114 ] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

draw our bodies to your body by 
rendering them fit companions for our 
souls and ready for the salvation you 
have won; draw our blood near to 
your blood that it may grow warm 
and take fire with the enthusiastic 
ardor of the Passion; draw every- 
thing, members and faculties, words 
and thought, feeling and will, within 
the shadow of the Cross. 

The Cross of Christ is a magnet 

To the Cross we have brought our 
sins that they may be forgiven; we 
have brought our sorrows that they 
may be comforted; we have brought 
our wounds that they may be healed; 
we have brought our weaknesses that 
we may be made strong; we have 
brought our virtues to have them in- 
tensified and set on fire. The infinite 
attractiveness of the Passion exercises 
its magnetic force upon us, and we 
earnestly desire that it should. That 
is why we wish to be drawn wholly to 

[115] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

the Cross and why we cry so earnestly 
''Harken and heed my prayer/' 

Director: Jesus, searcher of hearts. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

Director: Jesus, Hfted on the Cross, 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

Director: Jesus, magnet of all souls. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

PRAYER 

T^IVINE SAVIOUR of the world, 
"^■"^ whose vision from the Cross pierced 
into all the souls of all mankind, look 
down at us, we pray, from thy home 
upon the altar and by the power of thy 
Cross draw us to thy feet in sincere 
repentance and to the communion of 
thy body in heartfelt love that we may 
remain true to thee for every day of our 
lives. Amen. 



[116] 



CONFroENCE IN THE SAVIOUR 

It is Jesus, the Saviour, we pray to 



J 



ESUS, harken and heed my prayer." 
It is Jesus, the Saviour, whom we ask 
to give a favorable answer to our 
many requests. Jesus was the name 
sent down from heaven and brought 
to earth by an angel. Jesus, the 
Saviour! It was the same name which 
the angels of Bethlehem sang over 
His birth, "This day is born to you a 
Saviour." Have we not then in that 
name a guarantee that our prayer will 
be answered favorably.^ And where 
could we look with more certainty for 
a favorable answer than to the Agony 
and Passion of our Saviour. In Geth- 
semane and on Calvary it was there 
most of all He was Jesus, because 
there most of all He was saving us. 
A mariner is most worthy of his name 

[117] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

when he guides his vessel through the 
storm; a warrior deserves to be called 
a warrior when winning his victory; 
and Jesus is our Saviour in His Pas- 
sion. When, therefore, we call Him, 
and say, ''Jesus, harken and heed our 
prayer,'' will He not be favorable? 
Be Saviour to our souls by giving them 
holiness, be Saviour to our bodies by 
ransoming them from slavery and 
eternal death; be Saviour to us in our 
coldness by making your blood our 
wine; be Saviour to us in our want 
of purity by cleansing us in the water 
from your wounded side; be Saviour 
to our weakness by giving us all heart 
and strength from the Passion. Jesus, 
harken and heed our prayer. 

It is Jesus, the man of sorrow, we 
pray to 

Jesus is a name of sadness. It was 
a name that foretold sadness for its 
bearer and entailed sadness when its 
significance was realized. Their na- 
[118] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

tional title calls on patriots for the 
sacrifice of comforts, of wealth, of life 
itself when their nation goes to war. 
The chalice which Christ our Lord 
drank in His Agony was the full accept- 
ance of all that the name of Jesus 
meant. The blood which suffused 
His body in the Agony was the first 
bubbling of the spring which became 
a stream on Calvary and in that san- 
guinary baptism the name of Jesus 
was perfectly and fully won. 

It is Jesus J the source of our joy^ we 
pray to 

Truly, the name of Jesus is one of 
sadness for Him, but it is sad only that 
it may be for us a name of joy. The 
patriot hands on to his fellow-country- 
men the name which has cost him 
much but which has ensured peace 
and prosperity for all his people. Jesus, 
bearing a sad name for you, a joyous 
name for us, harken and heed our 
prayer. To be citizens of your king- 

[119] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

dom we must be willing to make sacri- 
fices; if we go to your soul and body, 
to your Passion, we must and do expect 
that what we ask for will exact some 
pay from us. We know all that, but 
we know too that the little sacrifice 
and trifling pay purchase for us exceed- 
ing joy because the kingdom whose 
gates were opened with such trouble 
on Calvary disclosed, when they were 
flung wide, the glory of the Resurrec- 
tion and the Ascension. Jesus Saviour, 
winner of joy through sorrow, harken 
and heed our prayer. 

Director: From every sin of soul or 
body. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From every sorrow. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director : From all want of generosity, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: By all that thy holy name 
meant for thee. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
[120] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

PRAYER 

T TNF AILING source of goodness, 
Jesus, friend of our souls, our 
prayers knock at thy tabernacle door, 
begging thee to open to us, to welcome 
us and in thy Holy Sacrament to bring 
us a favorable answer to every sacred 
desire of our hearts, through the help 
of thy grace. Amen. 



[121] 



TRUST IN THE GOODNESS OF 
JESUS 

We trust in Jesus' goodness shown 
in His life 



G 



OOD JESUS, harken and heed my 
prayer." We asked you to hear us be- 
cause in the Passion is our attraction 
and in the Passion is our true saving, 
and now we ask because of your good- 
ness in the Passion. ^^Good Jesus, 
harken and heed our prayer." It is 
true that the goodness of Christ our 
Lord was shown in every moment of 
His Hfe, in every move He made, in 
every step He took and word He spoke 
and even in every thought He had in 
His mind, because His whole Hfe in 
all its manifestations was wholly for us; 
but it was in His Passion that His 
goodness chiefly displayed itself. 

[ 122 ] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

We trust in Jesus' goodness increased 
in His Passion 

In the Passion the glowing ardor of 
Christ's friendship for us burst into 
full flame. St, Peter told the whole 
story of the life of Jesus in the few 
words, "'He went about doing good/' 
That goodness did not cease when 
Jesus was fettered to the Cross and 
could no longer go about. Truly not, 
for in His Passion He was doing us the 
greatest good. With trust then in 
that goodness, with confidence in Jesus, 
we come to Him in this prayer of the 
Passion. He put Himself upon the 
Cross to listen to us, to help us, to 
die for us. Good Jesus, harken and 
heed our prayer. 

We trust in Jesus' goodness perfected 
in His death 

Tested by His own definition of 
friendship, Jesus is truly our good 
friend. "Greater love than this," He 

[123] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

has told US, ^'no man has than that He 
lay down his life for his friend." We 
have received that supreme proof of 
Christ's friendship for us. So we thrill 
with confidence when we call Him 
Good Jesus. Best of friends He is 
and always shall be. If we had not 
felt the warmth of that friendship, 
we never should have gone to Jesus 
upon His Cross as we have been doing 
in this prayer and asked of the Passion 
in its entirety and of each of its parts 
for a gift. But we knew that His soul 
was our friend and would save us, 
and the blood from His wounds and 
the water from His pierced side were 
both good friends and would be fiery 
wine and cleansing rill to us. We 
might have said, good soul of Christ 
or good body of Christ, but we did not 
do so, not because we were blind to 
the goodness and friendship of His 
soul and His body, but because we 
were saving that friendship and good- 
ness for this part of our prayer. Here, 
[124] 



HOUR FOR PERFECTION AND STRENGTH 

looking back upon all that we have 
already asked for and looking forward 
to all that we are going to ask for, we 
feel that we must appeal to our good 
friend. We want to receive much good 
and who is more anxious to give than 
He? Good Jesus, harken and heed 
my prayer. 

Director: That thou wilt deign, Jesus, 
to be kind as in thy life, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That thou wilt be good to 
us, Jesus, as in thy Passion, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That thou wilt be our 
friend. Good Jesus, as in thy death. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 



[125] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

PRAYER 

TJEART OF JESUS, made for love 
of uSy living for love of us, dying 
for love of us, he still and always our good 
friend, consoling us when we visit thee, 
blessing us in thy sacramental Benedic- 
tion, and giving us thyself in Holy 
Communion that so our hearts, kindled 
by thy ardor, may grow in devoted friend- 
ship for thee, now and to the hour of our 
death. Amen. 



[126] 



AN HOUR FOR PERFECTION 
AND STRENGTH 

Fourth Quarter 

TANTUM ERGO AND BENEDICTION 

or 

ROSARY (Sorrowful Mysteries) 

or 

LITANY (q.v.) 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 
First Quarter 

PERSEVERANCE WITH JESUS 

I. With His Wounded Hands in 

Charity 
n. With His Wounded Feet in Zeal 
HI. With His Wounded Heart in the 

Theological Virtues 



PERSEVERANCE WITH JESUS 

Intra tua vulnera absconde me; 
Ne permittas me separari a te 

Reopen thy wounds and hide me there. 
That I never may dwell apart from 
Thee 

WITH HIS WOUNDED HANDS IN 
CHARITY 



T 



The wounds of Jesus help us to 
persevere 



HE first part of this prayer, called 
Aninia Christi, is a petition for attain- 
ment; the second part is a petition for 
perseverance in what has been attained. 
At the beginning we ask Jesus in His 
Passion for various gifts; at the end 
we beg for grace to keep the gifts. We 
pray in these last petitions to persevere 
by staying close to Jesus; we pray to 
persevere against dangerous enemies; 

[131] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

we pray to persevere to the end. Make 
us saints, we cried before; now we 
cry to Jesus to hide us deep in His 
wounds and keep us saints. His blood 
is to fill us with ardor; the water of 
His side to wash away all stain of sin, 
but that is not enough. The ardor 
must not cool; the taint must not 
return. So we seek to bury ourselves 
in the source from which flowed that 
water and blood. In that holy foun- 
tain we shall be safe. If Jesus is sad- 
dened in His Agony and Passion that 
many remain apart from Him, that 
will be all the more reason why we 
will run to this sacred refuge of His 
wounds and never dwell anywhere else 
but there. "Reopen thy wounds and 
hide me there, that I never may dwell 
apart from thee.'' 

His hands teach love of our neighbor 

Jesus stretches out His hands to us 
in loving invitation. It is the wounds 
in His hands that we first see, and it is 

[132] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

there we find our first refuge to help 
us in our perseverance. The hands of 
Jesus may fitly represent to us the 
charity of Jesus, and charity is a 
strong wall against falling away. A 
man begins to fail in perseverance 
when he begins to seek self, because 
all faults, all sins are acts of self-seek- 
ing. But in charity a man turns away 
from self and turns to his neighbor 
and to God. We hasten, therefore, to 
the outstretched hands of Jesus, de- 
termined to abide there. 

His hands practiced love of man 

The hands of Jesus practiced charity 
from first to last. They grew hard 
with labor, but were never callous to 
pain and wants. At touch of the 
hands of Jesus woimds were healed, 
and leprosy was cleansed, and ears 
were opened, and eyes saw again, and 
the cripples stood up straight and 
walked, and the dead left their tombs. 
With the blessing of the hands of 

[ 133 ] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

Jesus the water became wine, and 
bread was multiplied, and wonders 
were performed in the souls of sinners. 
When Jesus lifted up His hands to 
His Father in His Agony, He offered 
them as a last sacrifice of charity. 
He wished to welcome to His arms all 
the sinful souls of all mankind and for 
that reason He threw His hands apart 
as far as they would go and let them 
be nailed so in the widest welcome of 
divine charity. 

His wounded hands will keep us 
charitable 

Into the wounds of such hands we 
betake ourselves. We shall not work 
miracles by our blessings and touch, 
neither shall we be nailed to the cross 
of sacrifice in the supremest gift of 
charity, but certainly if we are hidden 
in the wounded hands of Jesus, we shall 
feel the impulses that kept them eager 
to open and reach out and embrace 
and bless. We shall practice charity 

[134] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

in ways that are for us wonderful, 
though far from the miraculous charity 
of Jesus. By that charity we shall 
persevere. "Hide me Jesus, in the 
wounds of thy hands that I never may 
dwell apart from thee.'' 

Director : Jesus, covered with wounds, 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

Director: Jesus, practicing charity, 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

Director: Jesus, extending thy 
wounded hands. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 



M 



PRAYER 

AY the merciful kindness which was 
continually done by thy hands dur- 
ing thy life^ assist us, most tender Jesus, 
to turn from the selfishness of sin and 
afford us, who still experience thy con- 
stant love in Holy Communion, generos- 
ity and perseverance in all virtue, through 
the help of thy grace. Amen. 

[135] 



I 



T 



WITH HIS WOUNDED FEET IN 
ZEAL 

The wounded feet of Jesus teach 
fearless confidence 



O choose the narrow way is hard; 
to travel always along it is trying and 
very hard. We are not of those who 
run the way of God's commandments. 
Our feet are leaden along that way. 
Looking ahead, we see ruts and furrows 
and sharp stones and black shadows 
that hide we know not what perils and 
pitfalls. What will make our steps 
light and our advance courageous.? 
Will it not be the wounds of Jesus .'^ 
Will it not be to walk His ways, to 
tread in His footprints.'^ We want the 
confidence of Jesus that never permits 
Him to turn back, nor to arrest His 
steps nor to falter on the way, even if 
[136] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

He walks on the waters and the black 
storm rages about or the angry waves 
seem to offer no sure footing, even if 
His path to prayer leads through the 
night or into shadowy, awful places 
of agony, or finally even if the straining, 
eager feet are to toil under a heavy 
burden up a steep hill-side. Nothing 
could stop or frighten Jesus. That is 
the lesson, the blessing that we want 
His wounded feet to give us: to travel 
the way of perseverance in fearless 
confidence. ''Reopen thy wounds and 
hide me there that I never may dwell 
apart from thee.'' 

His wounded feet teach persevering 
zeal 

If we need confidence to go on, so 
too we need zeal to go quickly. Before 
Jesus could travel Himself, He in- 
spired His mother to go in haste to the 
hill-country of Judea. Zeal is over- 
flowing charity, swift charity, charity 
with wings. Charity begins at home, 

[ 137 ] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

but zeal begins abroad. Zeal is a 
traveler; it makes converts; it crosses 
the sea and goes to foreign countries. 
Zeal leaves heaven and sets foot upon 
earth. Zeal leaves home and parents 
and stays in Jerusalem, where God's 
business needs tending to. Zeal seeks 
out sinners over hill and hollows. 
Zeal steps boldly into the garden of 
Agony while the unzealous halt at the 
gate and fall into slumber. Such was 
the zeal of Jesus, swift, resistless, tri- 
umphant. The wounds in the feet of 
Jesus are lasting proof of His zeal, as 
they are too a convincing testimony of 
His perseverance. Jesus, we too would 
travel with zeal, swiftly, perseveringly, 
victoriously. Hide us in the wounds 
that lay open upon thy feet, that we 
may never lag behind or be overcome 
with weariness and sleep. 



[138] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCB 

Director: From discouragement and 
fear, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From coldness and indif- 
ference. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: By the wounds in thy holy 
feet, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: By the zeal which made 
thee swift. 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 

PRAYER 

ILTASTEN, our brave and ardent 
Leader; hasten to us thy laggard 
and timid followers and having fed us 
upon the strength of thy body and blood, 
make us swift and fearless to travel the 
way of virtue even to the crown of im- 
mortal life. Amen. 



[139] 



WITH HIS WOUNDED HEART IN 
THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES 

The wounded Heart of Jesus is the 
home of love 



Wi 



E have found a refuge in the 
hands of Jesus because hand in hand 
with Him we will practice charity to 
our neighbor and in that unselfish 
acting we shall find perseverance. We 
have found refuge in the wounds of 
Jesus' feet because traveling with 
Him step by step we have confidence 
and zeal with which we hurry fearlessly 
and swiftly on the way of good without 
ceasing. If hands and feet have such 
blessings for us, what must we expect 
when we go to the wounded Heart of 
Jesus and take refuge there.? Surely 
that home of love will bring us close 
to God, and once we have taken up our 
residence there, how can we ever again 
dwell apart from Jesus ! In His Heart 
[ 140 ] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

it should be easy to persevere. Why so? 
Because in the Heart of Jesus, which 
registers the impulses of His love, 
which represents to us the human and 
divine love of Jesus, we have God re- 
vealed to us in a language we all under- 
stand. The Incarnation brought God 
to earth; His Heart brought God into 
our hearts. Hide us, Jesus, in the 
wound of thy Heart, that we never 
may dwell apart from thee. 

His wounded Heart is a support to 
faith 

There are three virtues which hold 
us fast to God, the three theological 
virtues of faith, hope, and charity, and 
in the Heart of Christ we may find 
them and in them find perseverance. 
Faith is in the Heart of Jesus. Did 
not He Himself invite the doubting 
apostle, Thomas, to put his hand into 
the open side and find solid, enduring 
faith there.? By faith we accept truths 
on the word of God. Who refuses to 

[141] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

accept the word of a true friend? Who 
could refuse to accept the word of 
Him whose very Heart opens in love 
to us? Assuredly it cost Jesus much 
in His hour of Agony and His Passion 
to allow His enemies to crush and 
bruise and wound His Heart for our 
sake, but He looked forward to Thomas 
and to thousands upon thousands of 
others whose faith would be weak and 
who would fall away because they 
would lose their hold upon the truths 
revealed by Him. If Jesus felt con- 
soled that His Heart's wounding was 
not to be without great benefit to man, 
then it is for us to enter into that home 
of faith in His Heart, find God there, 
and so be constant. Hide me in thy 
Heart by ardent faith, that I never 
may dwell apart from thee. 

His wounded Heart is a haven for 
hope 

In the Heart of Jesus is hope. When 
He looked forward to the piercing of 

[142] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

His Heart, when He welcomed the 
spear of the centurion, He knew He 
would open the portals of hope which 
never would be closed. All His wounds 
are solid proofs of our eternal salvation. 
The opening of His wounds opened 
heaven to us. The wound in His 
Heart was the last wound and denoted 
the completion of His work. If then 
from such complete and utter destruc- 
tion of His life, Jesus brought forth 
eternal good, what is there which can 
shake hope.? There is no despair pos- 
sible for one who is within the Heart 
of Christ, and while there is hope, there 
is perseverance. Hide me in thy Heart 
by solid hope, that I never may dwell 
apart from thee. 

His wounded Heart is a fountain of 
charity 

In the Heart of Jesus is charity. 
Charity to our neighbor, as we have 
already seen, will help us to persevere 
in good, but now we speak of charity 

[143] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

to God. The heart is the source and 
fountain of love. In the Heart of God, 
therefore, we shall drink deep of the 
love of God. The heart is the glowing 
furnace of love. In the Heart of Jesus 
we shall find our coldness melted away 
and our hearts inflamed with blazing 
charity. The apostle whom Jesus 
loved rested his head near the Heart 
of Christ; we wish to bury ourselves 
within His Heart and draw from it 
such love as will never cease or grow 
cold. With that love we shall per- 
severe. Hide me in thy Heart by 
perfect love, that I never may dwell 
apart from thee. 

Director: That we may find a home 
in thy wounded Heart, 

Adorer: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That we may win faith 
from thy wounded Heart, 

Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 

[144] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

Director: That we may ever hope 
within thy wounded Heart, 

Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That our charity may be 
set on fire by thy wounded Heart, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 

PRAYER 

LJEART OF JESUS, wounded for 
us; Heart of Jesus^ still living 
upon the altar to make intercession for 
us, grant, we beg of thee, that as thy 
Passion was the beginning of our salva- 
tion, so thy blessed Sacrament may 
enable us to persevere to the end by keep- 
ing strong and vigorous within us the 
virtues of faith, hope, and charity, 
through the help of thy grace. Amen. 

HYMN 



[145] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

Second Quarter 

PERSEVERANCE AGAINST THE 
ENEMY 

I. The Cruelty of the Enemy 
H. The Severe Attacks of the Enemy 
HI, The Malignant Craft of the Enemy 



PERSEVERANCE AGAINST THE 
ENEMY 

Ab hoste maligno defende me 
From the cruel foe protect me 

THE CRUELTY OF THE ENEMY 
An enemy of our 'perseverance is envy 



W 



E look out from the wounds of 
Christ where we have found refuge and 
see the enemy prowHng about eager 
to prey upon us if we should ever leave 
our fortress. We cannot hope to per- 
severe in good unless we study our 
enemy and his methods. The first 
thing which we notice in our enemy, 
who is Christ's enemy too, is his 
cruelty. Gazing out through the gloom 
of Gethsemane Jesus beheld the cruel 
storm that was gathering to fall upon 
Him and fear laid so cold a grasp 

[149] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

upon His Heart that its warm blood 
fled away to escape, if possible, froni 
the doom that was there gathering. 
What were the forces which aroused 
the cruelty of Christ's enemies? The 
leaders of the mob were urged on by 
jealousy of the power of Jesus. His 
success on Palm Sunday fired them 
with envy. Jealousy is a secret thing; 
it works in the dark; it loves under- 
hand ways; it lurks in unusual places, 
and leaps out like a serpent to sting. 
Such was the cruel enemy which Jesus 
faced. And what forces did that jeal- 
ousy, acting secretly in the back- 
ground, let loose upon Christ.'^ The 
frenzy of the mob and the savagery of 
the soldiers. A mob is cruel because 
it does not reason, but lets passion 
infuriate it; soldiers are cruel because 
that is their business. Jesus met and 
conquered those cruel enemies. I must 
not then be frightened, but cry, ''When 
the foe attacks, let me cling to thee." 

[150] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

An enemy of our "perseverance is 
selfish pride 

Those cruel enemies of Christ are 
types of the cruel sins which would 
crucify our souls. Anger and blas- 
phemy and murder, drunkenness and 
immorality and the whole brood of 
ungovernable passions, they are all 
hideous things and, like the soldiers 
and the mob around Jesus, they rage 
in frenzy about our souls. But even 
worse and more ugly and more cruel 
than those sins is their malignant 
source, that intense and exaggerated 
selfishness which puts self above God 
and cares not what evil it does, pro- 
vided it can attain its purpose in the 
gratification of passion or in the keener 
gratification of revenge. The jealousy 
of the Jewish priests was a more guilty 
and more horrible enemy of Jesus than 
the frenzy of the mob or the savagery 
of the soldiers. So pride, which is the 
deification of selfishness, is more cruel 

[151] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

and more deadly than the passions. 
"My Jesus, when the foe attacks, let 
me cling to thee/' 

The defense against the enemy is the 
loving patience of Christ 

We do right to cling to Jesus when 
our cruel foe attacks. In Him is the 
defense and remedy against the cruelty 
of sin. Jesus met the frenzy of the 
mob and its blasphemies with silence 
and meekness. Jesus met the savagery 
of the soldiers with loving forgive- 
ness. Had He resisted in act or deed 
or thought, His enemies might have 
felt some satisfaction and some con- 
tent in their horrible work, but the 
complete patience of Jesus softened 
all hearts, and mob and soldiers went 
home repentant and converted or at 
least subdued. The jealous priests 
should have been converted too. Jesus 
exhibited in His Passion utter unself- 
ishness. Alas, envy is harder to cure. 
We need all the defensive force of 
[152] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

Jesus in His Passion to protect us 
against the selfishness of sin. "'When 
the foe attacks, let me cling to thee/' 

Director: Jesus, pursued by envy. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

Director: Jesus, wounded by pride 
and selfishness. 

Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

Director: Jesus, meek and humble^ 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

PRAYER 

JESUS, God of our altars, send forth 
thy blessing from thy Holy Eucharist 
and make us strong against all our 
enemies by rooting out of our hearts 
selfish and proud feelings and implant- 
ing in their stead the meekness and 
humility displayed for us in thy Pas- 
sion and death. Amen. 



[153] 



THE SEVERE ATTACKS OF THE 

ENEMY 

Jesus suffered with 'particular 
keenness 



C 



ONSIDER how Christ suffered in 
His Passion not only cruelty of the 
most severe kind, but how He suffered 
a refinement of cruelty in the various 
means which were permitted by Him 
to bring about His death. The anguish 
of Christ's agony was sharpened to a 
keener edge at the thought of all the 
piercing wounds He was to suffer. 
Where he felt most, there He was 
attacked. He sympathized tenderly 
with pain and had to undergo the 
sharpest pain. He had now whereon 
to lay His head, — a pillow of piercing 
thorns! He loved modest retirement 
and seclusion, and now He was lifted 
[154] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

up in stark nakedness before the world. 
He was loyalty itself, loyal to His 
Father, loyal to His brothers, to us 
and all men, loyal to home and coun- 
try, and treason came with the kiss 
of Judas to wound that loyalty. He 
was the incarnation of friendship; 
He came to us through friendship; He 
found His friends everywhere, but 
there was always something new and 
particular about the choice of each 
friend. He was keenly, thrillingly 
alive to the least touch of friendship. 
Look now in His Agony and Passion, 
how His friendship was made to suflPer. 
Jesus was betrayed; Jesus was de- 
serted; Jesus Himself gave up those 
who remained true, His mother and 
a few others. 

Jesus protects us in our keen 
sufferings 

To feel alone, to feel everybody 
against you, that is a depressing feel- 
ing, and such discouragement is often 

[155] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

the cruel foe which attacks us and 
strives to turn us away from persever- 
ing with Jesus. Should we be wounded 
in every tender spot, as Jesus was, 
should we suffer torture of the utmost 
delicacy, we must never forget that 
far more poignant suffering came to 
Jesus. He sends the angel of His 
Agony to us to comfort and console. 
If we are wounded, His wounds are 
our healing; if we are humiliated 
before the world. His public shame 
comes as a balm to our afflicted spirits; 
if friends betray us, if we are left in 
the black gloom of abandonment, we 
may not forget that He who was most 
betrayed and most abandoned is with 
us forever, consoling us, uplifting 
us, strengthening us against failure. 
"Jesus, when the foe of discourage- 
ment attacks, let me cling to thee.'' 

Director: From wounding such as 
thinej 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
[156] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

Director: From humiliation such as 
thine, 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From betrayal such as 
thine, 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From abandonment such as 
thine, 
Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 



w 



PRAYER 

OUNDED, betrayed, abandoned, 
we come to thee, Jesus, best and 
truest friend, and kneeling before thy 
Tabernacle, we pray with our whole 
heart that as thy love and friendship 
never forsake us, so also may we never 
desert thy love and friendship, through 
the help of thy grace. Amen. 



[157] 



THE MALIGNANT CRAFT OF THE 
ENEMY 



T 



Our enemies are cruel of heart 



HE worst kind of cruelty is cruelty 
of heart. The voice may mellow; the 
eye may melt; the sternness of every 
feature may relax and the blow may 
fall gently, if only the purpose, the 
will, the heart is not case-hardened 
and steeled against all softening. Un- 
happily, there is something of that 
cruelty of purpose in the foe which 
attacks us. There is the cynical world, 
the tyrannical flesh, the malignant 
devil. These three arch enemies of 
mankind have each a cruel heart and 
all a cruel purpose. They all are 
bent upon the death of the soul, and 
they all have no pity or mercy. 



[158] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

The world ignores Jesus 

The cynical world which ignored 
Christ, which laughed at Christ in 
the person of sensual Herod, which 
condemned Christ in the person of 
compromising Pilate, is still laughing 
at us and condemning us because we 
believe in Christ and follow Christ. 
The world is opposed to heaven. If 
it does not deny, at least it leaves out 
of account any other world. The 
world, therefore, forgets Christ or 
what is best in Christ, His Divinity, 
His oflBce of Saviour, everything in 
Him which points to another world. 
The heart of the world entertains the 
cruel purpose of robbing us of Jesus. 
"When the world attacks, let me cling 
to thee/' 

The flesh scorns Jesus 

The tyrannical flesh lives for itself. 
It too would neglect or remove Christ. 
Christ might ask the flesh to forego 

[159] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

its gratification or even suffer denial 
and pain. So the flesh will have none 
of Christ. He is a fool, says the flesh, 
as it asks for food and drink and in- 
dulgence and for immediate, constant 
satisfaction of every sense and appe- 
tite. ''When the flesh attacks let me 
cling to thee.'' 

The devil plots against Jesus 

Malignant Satan will, of course, 
attack Christ and strive to tear us 
away from Him and His saving 
wounds. And, alas, he is cunning 
and will wait long and will study our 
weaknesses until he find them. Then 
He will lay siege to the weak part 
and many a brave heart which could 
not be carried by storm is wearied 
and overcome by the persistency of 
the enemy. "Jesus, when the devil 
attacks craftily and persistently, let 
me cling to thee.'' 



[ 160 ] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

Jesus overcomes our enemies by the 
love of His Heart 

Jesus in His Passion met and con- 
quered the world, the flesh, and the 
devil. The silence, humility, and char- 
ity, the belief in heaven and God 
triumphantly asserted and vindicated 
in the Passion, are only some of the 
reasons why Jesus could justly say 
that He had conquered the world. 
The flesh, too, was overcome by Jesus 
in every pain He suffered and in the 
thorough opposition between every 
part of the Passion with its self-denial 
and torture and the flesh with its 
indulgence and gratification. Finally, 
Satan and the powers of darkness had 
their hour in the Passion, an hour 
it seemed of victory, but an hour, as 
it really turned out to be, of conquest 
and of complete rout for the hordes of 
darkness. If the world, flesh, and devil 
have the cruel purpose of bringing 
about our death, Jesus has the kind 

[161] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

purpose of ensuring our life. The 
Heart of Jesus is our defense against 
the heartlessness of the world, the 
flesh, and the devil. "Heart of Jesus, 
when these foes attack, let me cling 
to thee.'' 

Director : That we conquer the world. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That we may subdue the 
flesh, 

Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That we may defeat the 
devil. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That thy Heart be our 
defense. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 



[162] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

PRAYER 

THREAD oj heaven and eternal life, 
Jesus abiding in the Tabernacle, 
be food to us in our struggles and be our 
daily sustenance against evil-minded foes, 
that as thy Passion revealed to us thy 
Heart's love and overcame the world, the 
flesh, and the devil, we may in like man- 
ner show our true love for thee by con- 
quering all our deadly enemies, with the 
help of thy grace. Amen. 

HYMN 



[163] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 
Third Quarter 

PERSEVERANCE TO THE END 

I. The Call to Joy 
II. The Intensity of Heaven's Joy 
m. The Eternity of Joy 



PERSEVERANCE TO THE END 

In hora mortis meae, voca me 
And call me home at the end of my 
days 

THE CALL TO JOY 

The call of Jesus is attractive 



Wi 



E are praying to persevere with 
Jesus, to persevere against our deadly 
foe, to persevere to the end. It is 
the end that now conies before us, 
the end of our days, the hour of our 
death, the entrance to reward. The 
thought of death and reward will 
keep us true to Jesus to the last, 
but we wish to make sure of ourselves 
at that supreme moment, as far as we 
can make sure of our perseverance. 
So we ask of our Saviour to call us 
then to Him. How attractive was 
His voice when He called sinners ! He 

[167] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

called the Samaritan woman; He 
called Magdalen; He called Thomas 
who was doubting and Peter who had 
denied Him. What was His Agony 
but a cry to all the souls of all time? 
''Come to me all you who are heavily 
burdened/' ''Learn of me/' He cries, 
and that invitation is a call to us to 
be scholars in His school. We surely 
will not refuse to hear that kindly 
voice, that invitation which comes to 
us from lips red with His blood. "Pray 
for us sinners now and at the hour of 
our death." That is the favor we ask 
daily of our Mother Mary; that is 
the favor, our Saviour, we now ask 
of you. Call us sinners now and call 
us at the hour of our death. Jesus, 
call me home at the end of my days. 

The call of Jesus is inspiring 

The call of Jesus is strong and in- 
spiring. "Come, follow me," he 
said to this one and that one as He 
went about Judea and Galilee. "From 
[168] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

the business of life, from the trades 
which you work at and which you like, 
come, follow me with Peter and John 
and Matthew; from hatred and per- 
secution of me, come follow me with 
Paul; from father and mother, from 
home and loved ones, come follow me 
to God's temple to be about the busi- 
ness of the Father/' The call of 
Jesus was then and ever has been 
thrilling and inspiring. It found its 
way into cold hearts and set them 
afire with the high purpose of apostles 
and martyrs. From the Garden of 
Olives comes to us the same call. 
Take up your cross daily and come, 
follow me. To heed that call is the 
guarantee of our perseverance. Call 
us, then, strong voice of the living 
God; call us now to follow you and 
call us in the hour of our death to 
follow you to eternity. ''Call us 
home, good Master, at the end of 
our days." 

[169] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

The call of Jesus has miraculous 
power 

Most powerful, most wonderful was 
the call of Christ. It not only softened 
sinners to shame and thrilled all with 
courage and enthusiasm, but it reached 
into the cold ears of the dead and 
woke them to life. Miraculous voice 
of the Son of God to which the tomb 
offers no barrier; "Lazarus, come 
forth,'' you called, and ears that had 
begun to corrupt heard and obeyed 
your call. Omnipotent voice of the 
Saviour of mankind which cried from 
Gethsemane to Calvary with the ap- 
pealing lips of many wounds, which 
cried to the justice of God, ''It is con- 
summated,'' and by that cry called 
every dead soul to everlasting life. 
Call us from death to life, from the 
death of sin to the life of innocence; 
from the death of the body to life 
eternal. ''Good Saviour, call me home 
at the end of my days." 

[170] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

Director: Jesus, calling sinners to 
repentance, 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, calling souls to fol- 
low thee. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 
Director: Jesus, calling the dead to 
life. 
Adorers: Have mercy on us! 

PRAYER 

JESUS, whose voice was all powerful 
upon earth and still speaks to our 
hearts from the silence of thy Holy 
Sacrament, open our ears, we pray 
thee, to the sweetness and strength of 
thy gracious invitation, that hearkening 
now to thy call we may he made worthy 
to hear thee in the hour of our death. 
Amen. 



[171] 



Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te 

To join with thy saints in thy song 

of praise 

THE INTENSITY OF HEAVEN'S JOY 

Present joys anticipate heaven 



w 



E have crossed the portals of 
death and upon our dehghted ears 
breaks the harmony of heaven. We 
anticipate that joyous day now that 
we may be sure to arrive at it finally. 
A few notes of that exquisite melody 
may be heard during life. The truth, 
beauty, and goodness on earth are 
faint echoes of the reality which we 
shall attain to in heaven. Truth, 
beauty, and goodness form a trinity 
which is a shadow of the Trinity of 
the Divine Persons in God. Our beings 
now sing with joy when they are 
touched by things beautiful, true, and 
[ 172 ] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

good; our souls shall be ravished with 
perfect felicity when the infinite truth, 
beauty, and goodness of God inundate 
us with heavenly harmony. 

In heaven we enjoy infinite truth 

Truth strikes a chord in our mind 
and gives us pleasure. Curiosity is 
like appetite and thirst. It may be 
abused and often is, but curiosity 
which represents a desire for truth is 
implanted in us by God. It is an 
impulse towards the truth of earth, 
urging us on to the fullness of truth in 
God. Men have been made extremely 
happy by the discovery of some tri- 
fling truth. Columbus forgot his sad 
voyage in his happy disembarking on 
a new land. What shall we feel when 
we discover and put into a song of 
praise the boundless truth of God.? 
Christ in His Passion suffered from 
lies and deceptions and false accusa- 
tions that it might be possible for us 
to know and enjoy His truth. We 

[173 ] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

do not then forget His hour of Agony 
when we pray that we may join with 
His Saints in a song of praise to Him. 

In heaven we enjoy infinite beauty 

Beauty too thrills our souls with its 
melody. The truths of all the sciences 
sing in human minds and the beauties 
of all the arts and of all creation, 
reflecting darkly the beauty of God, 
join in the glad chorus which sets the 
soul to song. Too well does the soul 
know the fascination of beauty; but 
it forgets often that the beauty of 
earth is as darkness to daylight when 
compared with the beauty of God. 
The song of praise which the blessed in 
heaven chant about the throne of God 
is inspired by God's infinite beauty. 
To enable us to hear and join in that 
song Jesus faced the hideous ugliness of 
His Passion. Thank you, good Saviour, 
for making us see again the beauty of 
virtue and God and keep us true till 
we join thy saints in the song of praise. 
[174] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

In heaven we enjoy infinite good 

Goodness is the third source of joy, 
fiUing our hearts with pleasing music. 
Take away good from the world and 
all action would cease. After all, life 
is full of good things, and even the 
evils have their good in fostering and 
exercising hundreds of virtues. When 
we look at the immense evil of our 
Saviour's Passion and remember the 
good which came from it, we are en- 
couraged to persevere through the 
shortcomings of life until we come to 
the perfection of God. Face to face 
with God's unlimited goodness, there 
never can be any end to the melody 
in our hearts. We shall exultantly 
blend into one glorious chant the truth 
and beauty and goodness of God. 
''Good Jesus, call me to join the 
Saints in that song of praise.'' 



[175] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

Director: From falsehood and decep- 
tion. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 
Director: From the fleeting fascina- 
tions of earth, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 

Director: From the saddening evils 

of time. 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 

Director: By the dishonors borne in 

thy Passion, 

Adorers: Deliver us, Lord! 



J 



PRAYER 

ESUS, most wise, most beautiful, and 
most good, who in thy Passion wast 
forced to endure falsehood, dishonor, and 
countless evils, grant us, we "pray, to 
welcome thee at thy altar-rail daily during 
life that we may he made worthy to sing 
joyfully with the blessed in heaven the 
praises of God's infinite perfections. 
Amen. 



[176] 



F 



In saecula saeculorum, Amen 
Forevermore 

THE ETERNITY OF JOY 

Eternity was won on Calvary 



ORE VERMORE ! The end of the 
journey comes into view, and the trav- 
eler is encouraged to put forth great 
endeavors despite his weariness. For- 
evermore! The goal is in sight, and 
the runner flings himself on with a 
last supreme effort to win the race. 
The Agony and Passion of Christ 
were His last efforts to finish the work 
of His Father forevermore. Alas, that 
His goal should have been the Cross 
and that His struggle should have 
written itself in red letters that all 
might read it! But now finally after 
pain and sorrow, after sweat of blood 
and jets of blood, after scourge and 

[ 177 ] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

thorns and nails and spear, after cen- 
turies of waiting, we hear from the 
dying Saviour the good news of our 
complete redemption, "It is consum- 
mated." That is the forevermore of 
the Cross which brings to us the crown 
forevermore. 

Eternity helps us to persevere 

Joy is fleeting; sadness stays with 
us. Happiness is a bird that sings its 
song and flies away; sorrow is a chain 
riveted upon our heart. That is 
heaven where gladness abides forever- 
more, where its song never ceases, 
where all shackles are broken and all 
tears are dried. Sometimes old tunes 
get singing in our heads, and we can- 
not drive them away. If we would 
persevere in all the good we have seen 
and asked for in this prayer called 
Anima Christie we must set one tune 
humming on our lips and dancing in 
our hearts, the melody of forevermore 
and evermore. Had Jesus not suffered, 

[ 178 ] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

we could not sing, ''Forevermore/' 
No, we should be moaning, '^Never- 
more." But Jesus entered into His 
Agony, and we therefore look forward 
to enter into our felicity forevermore. 

Eternity dwarfs our trials 

Our trials are so near us that we do 
not see them in their proper size. We 
exaggerate them out of all proportion. 
If we live in a level country of wide 
plains, then a small hill is a high eleva- 
tion, but did we live in the mountains, 
then hills would seem little things. 
Take a stand upon Calvary, upon that 
lofty peak of torture, and how trifling 
the pains of life become. Go higher 
and look out upon life from the in- 
finite heights of heaven, and long suffer- 
ing and intense sorrow shrink away into 
nothingness. What is the most pro- 
longed space of time when compared 
with forevermore.? 



[179] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

Eternity blots out the sorrow of life 

The hour which our Saviour spent 
in the Garden of OHves, the three hours 
which He passed upon the Cross, were 
full of the most piercing grief and har- 
rowing torments. No one could say 
how piercing and how harrowing. Yet 
when it was all over, when Jesus en- 
tered into His glory, all the torment 
seemed as nothing. He had released 
a world from bondage; He had thrown 
wide open forever the gates of heaven; 
He had led the captivity of sin captive 
to salvation, and now the black hours of 
Agony and Passion were tiny, almost 
invisible spots on the resplendent and 
unending effulgence of heaven. Who 
would believe that the towering giant of 
an oak tree ever sprung from a midget 
acorn.? So shall we in endless exulta- 
tion set the immensity of the reward be- 
side the insignificance of the effort as we 
join the songs of praise that saints are 
singing to their Saviour forevermore. 

[180] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 

Director: That we may be redeemed 
forevermore, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That we persevere in vh^- 
tue forevermore. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That we endure patiently 
forevermore, 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 
Director: That we enjoy the happi- 
ness of heaven forevermore. 
Adorers: We beseech thee to hear 
us! 

PRAYER 

TESTIS, setting our souls free from sin 
and consummating upon the Cross 
our happy redemption, stay with us as 
the evening of life approaches and after 
revealing thyself to us daily in thy Sacri- 
fice and Communion, bring about finally 
our entrance into thy heavenly home for- 
evermore. Amen. 

[181] 



AN HOUR FOR PERSEVERANCE 
Fourth Quarter 

TANTUM ERGO AND BENEDICTION 

or 

ROSARY (Sorrowful Mysteries) 

or 

LITANIES (q.v.) 



LITANIES, PRAYERS AND 
HYMNS 

[Note: These prayers may be recited as time 
and devotion will suggest. The litanies may 
be divided, if so wished, and said after each 
quarter or read entire. One is perfectly free to 
omit any or all of these prayers or to add 
others.] 



THE LITANY OF THE MOST 
HOLY NAME OF JESUS 

God the Father of Heaven, have 

mercy on us. 
God the Son, Redeemer of the 

world, 
God the Holy Ghost. 
Holy Trinity, One God, 
Jesus, Son of the living God, 
Jesus, Splendor of the Father, 
Jesus, Brightness of Eternal Light, 
Jesus, King of Glory, 
Jesus, Sun of Justice, 
Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary, 
Jesus, most amiable, 
Jesus, most admirable, 
Jesus, mighty God, 
Jesus, Father of the world to come, 
Jesus, Angel of the great counsel, 
Jesus, most powerful, 
Jesus, most patient, 

[185] 






o 



Co 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

Jesus, most obedient, 

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, 

Jesus, Lover of chastity, 

Jesus, Lover of us, 

Jesus, God of peace, 

Jesus, Author of Hfe, 

Jesus, Model of virtues, 

Jesus, zealous for souls, 

Jesus, our God, 

Jesus, our refuge, 

Jesus, Father of the poor, 

Jesus, Treasure of the faithful, 

Jesus, good Shepherd, 

Jesus, true Light, 

Jesus, eternal Wisdom, 

Jesus, infinite Goodness, 

Jesus, our Way and our Life, 

Jesus, Joy of Angels, 

Jesus, King of Patriarchs, 

Jesus, Master of Apostles, 

Jesus, Teacher of Evangelists, 

Jesus, Strength of Martyrs, 

Jesus, Light of Confessors, 

Jesus, Purity of Virgins, 

Jesus, Crown of all Saints, 

[186] 



LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

Be merciful, spare us, Jesus. 

Be merciful, graciously hear us, 
Jesus. 

From all evil, Jesus, deliver us. 

From all sin, 

From thy wrath. 

From the snares of the devil. 

From the spirit of fornication, 

From everlasting death. 

From neglect of Thy inspirations. 

Through the mystery of Thy holy 
Incarnation, 

Through Thy Nativity, 

Through Thine Infancy, 

Through Thy most divine Life, 

Through Thy Labors, 

Through Thine Agony and Passion, 

Through Thy Cross and Abandon- 
ment, 

Through Thy Sufferings, 

Through Thy Death and Burial, 

Through Thy Resurrection, 

Through Thy Ascension, 

Through Thy Joys, 

Through Thy Glory, 

[187] 



Co 

Co 

Co 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins 

of the world, spare us^ Jesus. 
Lamb of God, who takest away the 

sins of the world, graciously hear us^ 

Jesus. 
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins 

of the world, have mercy on us^ Jesus. 
Jesus, hear us. 
JesuSy graciously hear us. 

LET US PRAY 

r\ LORD JESUS CHRIST, who hast 
^^^ said: Ask, and ye shall receive; 
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it 
shall be opened unto you; grant, we be- 
seech Thee, unto us who ask, the gift of 
Thy most divine Love, that we may ever 
love Thee with our whole hearts, and in 
all our words and actions, and may never 
cease from showing forth Thy praise. 

Make us, Lord, to have a perpetual 
fear and love of Thy Holy Name; for 
Thou never failest to govern those whom 
Thou dost solidly establish in Thy love. 
Who livest and reignest, etc. Amen. 

[188] 



LITANY OF THE SACRED 
HEART 

Lord, have mercy on us. 

Christ, have mercy on us. 

Lord, have mercy on us. 

Christ, hear us. 

Christy graciously hear us. 

God, the Father of heaven, 

God, the Son, Redeemer of the 

world, 
God, the Holy Ghost, 
Holy, Trinity, one God, 
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal 

Father, 
Heart of Jesus, formed by the 

Holy Ghost in the womb of the 

Virgin Mother, 
Heart of Jesus, substantially united 

to the Word of God, 
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty. 
Heart of Jesus, sacred temple of 

God, 

[ 189 ] 






O 
Co 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the 

Most High, 
Heart of Jesus, house of God and 

gate of heaven. 
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of 

charity. 
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice 

and love. 
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and 

love. 
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all vir- 
tues. 
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all 

praise. 
Heart of Jesus, king and center of 

all hearts. 
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all 

the treasures of wisdom and 

knowledge. 
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the 

fullness of divinity. 
Heart of Jesus, in whom the 

Father was well pleased. 
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness 

we have all received. 
[190] 



&3 



LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

Heart of Jesus, desire of the ever- 
lasting hills, 

Heart of Jesus, patient and most 
merciful. 

Heart of Jesus, enriching all who 
invoke thee. 

Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and 
holiness, 

Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our 
sins, 

Heart of Jesus, loaded down with 
opprobrium. 

Heart of Jesus, bruised for our 
offenses. 

Heart of Jesus, obedient unto 
death. 

Heart of Jesus, pierced with a 
lance, 

Heart of Jesus, source of all con- 
solation. 

Heart of Jesus, our life and resur- 
rection. 

Heart of Jesus, our peace and rec- 
onciliation. 

Heart of Jesus, victim for sin, 

[191] 






o 

Co 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

Heart of Jesus, salvation of those ^ 

who trust in thee, § 

Heart of Jesus, hope of those who I 1 

die in thee, ^ 

Heart of Jesus, delight of all the § 

saints, § 

Lamb of God, Who takest away 

the sins of the world. 
Spare us^ Lord! 
Lamb of God, Who takest away 

the sins of the world. 
Graciously hear us, Lord! 
Lamb of God, Who takest away the 

sins of the world. 
Have mercy on us. 
Jesus, meek and humble of heart. 
Make our hearts like unto Thine. 



[ 192] 



LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

LET US PRAY 

r\ ALMIGHTY and eternal God, 
^^^ look upon the Heart of Thy dearly 
beloved Son, and upon the praise and 
satisfaction He offers Thee in the name 
of sinners and for those who seek Thy 
mercy; he Thou appeased, and grant 
us pardon in the name of the same Jesus 
Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reign- 
eth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy 
Ghost, world without end. Amen. 



[193] 



RESPONSES 

I^Note: These verses and responses are chanted 
on Good Friday during the adoration of the 
Cross. They furnish apt thoughts for the Holy 
Hour.] 

AFTER FIRST QUARTER 

V. My people! what have I done 
to thee? Or in what have I grieved 
thee? Answer me. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. Because I brought thee out of 
the land of Egypt: thou hast prepared 
a cross for thy Saviour. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. Because I led thee through the 
desert forty years and fed thee with 
manna and brought thee into an ex- 
cellent land; thou hast prepared a 
cross for thy Saviour. 

[194] 



LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. What more should I have done 
to thee, and have not done? I have 
planted for thee my most beautiful 
vineyard: and thou hast proved very 
bitter to me: for in my thirst thou 
gavest me vinegar to drink; and with 
a spear thou hast pierced the side of 
thy Saviour. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

AFTER SECOND QUARTER 

V. For thy sake I scourged Egypt 
with her first-born; and thou hast 
delivered me to be scourged. 

R, Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. I brought thee out of Egypt, 
having drowned Pharao in the Red 
Sea; and thou hast delivered me over 
to the chief priests. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

[195] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

V. I opened the sea before thee; 
and thou with a spear hast opened 
my side. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. I went before thee in a pillar of 
the cloud; and thou hast brought me 
to the palace of Pilate. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

AFTER THIRD QUARTER 

V. I fed thee with manna in the 
desert; and thou hast beaten me with 
buffets and scourges. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. I gave thee wholesome water to 
drink out of the rock; and thou hast 
given me gall and vinegar. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. For thy sake I struck the kings 
of the Chanaanites; and thou hast 
struck my head with a reed. 

C 196 ] 



LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. I gave thee a royal sceptre; and 
thou hast given me a crown of thorns. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

V. I have exalted thee with great 
strength; and thou hast hanged me on 
the gibbet of the cross. 

R. Holy and immortal God! have 
mercy on us. 

PRAYERS 

O Jesus, living in Mary! come and 
live in thy servants, in the spirit of thy 
holiness, in the fullness of thy might, 
in the truth of thy virtues, in the per- 
fection of thy ways, in the communion 
of thy mysteries; subdue every hos- 
tile power, in thy spirit for the glory 
of the Father. Amen. 300 daySy once 
a day. 

Divine Jesus, incarnate Son of God, 
who for our salvation didst vouchsafe 
to be born in a stable, to pass thy life 

[197] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

in poverty, trials and misery, and to 
die amid the sufferings of the cross, 
I entreat thee, say to thy divine Father 
at the hour of my death: Father^ for- 
give him; say to thy beloved mother: 
Behold thy son; say to my soul: This 
day thou shalt be with me in paradise. 
My God, my God, forsake me not in 
that hour. I thirst: yes, my God, my 
soul thirsts after thee, who art the 
fountain of living waters. My life 
passes like a shadow; yet a little 
while, and all will be consummated. 
Wherefore, O my adorable Saviour! 
from this moment, for all eternity, 
into thy hands I commend my spirit. 
Lord Jesus, receive my soul. Amen. 
300 days^ once a day. 

O most compassionate Jesus! thou 
alone art our salvation, our life, and 
our resurrection. We implore thee, 
therefore, do not forsake us in our 
needs and afflictions, but, by the agony 
of thy sacred heart, and by the sorrows 
of thy immaculate mother, help thy 

[198] 



LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

servants whom thou hast redeemed by 
thy most precious blood. 100 days^ once 
a day. 

See where thy boundless love has 
reached, my loving Jesus! Thou, of 
thy flesh and precious blood, hast 
made ready for me a banquet whereby 
to give me all thyself. Who drove 
thee to this excess of love for me? 
Thy heart, thy loving heart. O ador- 
able heart of Jesus, burning furnace 
of divine love! within thy sacred 
wound take thou my soul; in order 
that, in that school of charity, I may 
learn to love that God who has given 
me such wondrous proofs of his great 
love. Amen. 100 days, once a day. 

Dear Jesus, in the sacrament of the 
altar, be forever thanked and praised. 
Love, worthy of all celestial and terres- 
trial love! who, out of infinite love for 
me, ungrateful sinner, didst assume 
our human nature, didst shed thy 
most precious blood in the cruel scourg- 
ing, and didst expire on a shameful 

[199] 



HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

cross for our eternal welfare! Now, 
illumined with lively faith, with the 
outpouring of my whole soul and the 
fervor of my heart, I humbly beseech 
thee, through the infinite merits of 
thy painful sufferings, give me strength 
and courage to destroy every evil pas- 
sion which sways my heart, to bless 
thee in my greatest afflictions, to 
glorify thee by the exact fulfillment of 
all my duties, supremely to hate all 
sin, and thus to become a saint. 100 
days. 

Virgin Mary, mother of God, martyr 
of love and sorrow, because of Jesus' 
pains and woes which thou didst wit- 
ness: truly didst thou concur in the 
great work of my redemption, first by 
thy countless woes and then by the 
offering thou didst make to the eternal 
Father of his and thy only-begotten 
Son, for a holocaust and victim to 
appease his wrath for my great sins. 
I thank thee for that boundless love, 
impelled by which thou didst bereave 
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LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

thyself of the fruit of thy womb, very 
God and very man, to save me a sinner: 
let thy intercession, which is never in 
vain, be ever with the Father and the 
Son, that I may steadily amend my evil 
ways, and never, by fresh faults, crucify 
anew my loving Saviour; but that, 
abiding in his grace till death, I may, 
through the merits of his sad passion 
and death upon the cross, obtain eternal 
Ufa. 

Hail Mary, three times. 

Let us pray. 

O Lord Jesus Christ, who, at the 
sixth hour of the day, didst, for the re- 
demption of the world, mount the gib- 
bet of the cross, and shed thy precious 
blood for the remission of our sins! we 
humbly beseech thee to grant us that, 
after our death, we may joyfully enter 
the gates of eternal bliss. 

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord Jesus 
Christ! that, now and at the hour of 
our death, the blessed Virgin Mary, thy 

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HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANB 

mother, may intercede with thy mercy 
for us, through whose most holy soul 
the sword did pass in the hour of thy 
passion. Through thee, Jesus Christ, 
Saviour of the world, who, with the 
Father and the Holy Ghost, livest and 
reignest for ever and ever. Amen. 
100 days, once a day. 

Eternal Father! we offer thee the 
most precious blood of Jesus, shed for 
us with such great love and bitter 
pain from the wound in his right hand; 
and, through its merits and its might, 
we entreat thy divine majesty to grant 
us thy holy benediction, that, by its 
power, we may be defended against all 
our enemies and freed from every ill; 
whilst we say. 

May the blessing of God almighty. 
Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, 
descend upon us, and remain forever. 
Amen. 

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to 
the Father. 100 days. 

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LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

May the heart of Jesus in the most 
blessed sacrament be praised, adored 
and loved with grateful affection, at 
every moment, in all the tabernacles 
of the world, even to the end of time. 
Amen. 100 days. 



[203] 



HYMNS 

[Note: The following verse translations and 
paraphrases of the Anima Christi, while help- 
ing to a better understanding of the prayer, 
may be used as hymns during the Holy Hour.] 

SOUL OF MY SAVIOUR 

Soul of my Saviour, sanctify my breast; 
'Body of Christ, be thou my saving guest! 
Blood of my Saviour, bathe me in Thy 

tide! 
Wash me, ye waters, gushing from His 

side! 

Strength and protection may His passion 

be! 
O blessed Jesus, hear and answer me! 
Deep in Thy heart. Lord, hide and shelter 

me! 
So shall I never, never part from Thee. 

Guard and defend me from the foe malign! 
In death's dread moments make me only 
Thine! 

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LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

Call me, and bid me come to Thy embrace. 
And with Thy Saints behold Thee face 
to face. 

Airs: Roman Hymnal, No. 12 

American Catholic Hymnal, No. 94 
Catholic Youth's Hymn Book, No. 35 
Catholic Church Hymnal, No. 189 



[205] 



ANIMA CHRISTI, SANCTIFICA ME 

Soul of Jesus, make me holy, 
M.ake me contrite, meek and lowly. 
Soul most stainless. Soul divine. 
Cleanse this sordid soul of mine; 
Hallow this polluted soul, 
Vurify it, make it whole; 
Soul of Jesus, hallow me; 
Miserere Domine. 

Save me. Body of my Lord, 
Save a sinner vile, abhorred; 
Sacred Body, wan and worn, 
Uruised and mangled, scourged and torn, 
Vierced Hands and Feet and Side, 
IRent, insulted, crucified. 
Save me — to the Cross I flee; 
ISliserere Domine. 

BZoocZ of Jesus, Stream of Life, 
Sacred Stream with blessings rife^ 
From that broken Body shed 
On the Cross that Altar dread; 
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LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

Given to be our Drink Divine, 
Fill my heart and make it Thine; 
Blood of Christ, my succor be; 
M.iserere Domine. 

Holy Water, Stream that poured 
From Thy riven Side, Lord, 
Wash Thou me without, within; 
Cleanse me from the taint of sin^ 
Till my soul is clean and white, 
Bathed and purified and bright 
As a ransomed soul should be; 
M.iserere Domine. 

Jesu, by the wondrous Power 
Of Thine awful Passion hour, 
By the unimagined woe 
M^ortal man may never know; 
By the Curse upon Thee laid. 
By the Ransom Thou hast paid, 
By Thy Passion comfort me; 
M^iserere Domine. 



Jesu, by Thy bitter death. 
By Thy last expiring breath. 



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HOLY HOUR IN GETHSEMANE 

Give me the eternal Life 
Purchased by that mortal strife; 
Thou didst suffer death that I 
'Might not die eternally; 
By Thy dying quicken me; 
Miserere Domine. 

Miserere; let me he 
Never parted. Lord, from Thee; 
Guard me from my ruthless foe. 
Save me from eternal woe. 
In the dreadful Judgment Day 
Be Thy Cross my hope and stay; 
When the hour of death is near 
And my spirit faints for fear, 
Call me with Thy Voice of Love, 
Tlace me near to Thee above, 
yVith Thine Angel-host to raise 
An undying song of praise. 
Miserere Domine. 

anonymous: lyra eucharistica. 

Airs: American Catholic Hymnal, Nos. 34, 165 
Roman Hymnal, No. 7^, 151 
Catholic Youth's Hymn Booh, Nos. 20, 
33, 34, 122 

[208] 



LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

£Note: If any difficulty is found in adapting 
to the music the two-syllable endings of the 
first two lines, substitute the last two lines of 
the same stanza and then repeat them at the 
end.] 



[209] 



ANIMA CHRISTI 

Soul of Jesus^ once for me 
Offered on the shameful Tree, 
Heal, and make me by that cure 
Vure as Thou Thyself art pure; 
Thou of life the fountain fair. 
Draw me in and keep me there. 

Form of Jesus, one with God, 
W/^o the dreadful wine-press trod, 
M.an of Sorrows drowned in grief. 
Thou of sin the sole relief. 
Be Thy sacramental power 
Vresent at my dying hour. 

Holy Jesus, Great I Am, 
Shining in a Spotless Lamb, 
Gentle as the Heavenly Dove, 
Thou the Lord of Light and Love, 
By Thy Passion, by Thy prayer. 
Snatch me from my own despair. 
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LITANIES, PRAYERS AND HYMNS 

Hide me where that Wound was given 
Yiercing to the Heart of Heavens- 
Hide me where those nails unmeet 
^ent Thy Hands and fixed Thy Feet; 
Hide me where red Drops ran down 
¥rom that sad acanthine Crown. 

Blood of Jesus, crimson Sea, 
Glorious as eternity, 
Fathomless, alone, sublime. 
Boundless bath of human crime, 
M^ the leper, vile and mean, 
Vlunge me there and make me clean. 

Water, from that sacred Side 
Of a God Who groaned and died. 
Blending with the purple gore 
When His Agony was o'er. 
Flow in mercy full and free. 
Flow for sinners, flow for me. 

Holy Jesus, let me be 
Never separate from Thee; 
From the malice of the foe 
Ward me in the vale of woe; 

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HOLY HOUR GETHSEMANE 

Jjct me, yielding up my breath, 
Find a Paradise in death. 

There no more shall night be known 
Safely prostrate at Thy Throne; 
Called by Thee to realms of day 
V^here all tears are wiped away, 
Jesu, Thou my Rest shalt be, 
Yaith hath found her home in Thee. 

M. bridges: LYRA EUCHARISTICA. 

Airs: American Catholic Hymnal, Nos. 24, 158 
Roman Hymnal, 132, 140 
Catholic Youth's Hymnal, 47 



[212] 



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